Who Cares About Link?

God bless V Magazine for their latest issue, "Who Cares About Age". Usually when the media decides to celebrate older women, we're only allowed one. Like the recent Streep Mania... or 2006 when Helen Mirren was all the rage. I've always had a thing for actresses of a certain age so I applaud them for multiplying the enthusiasm. I mean check out these legendary cover girls: Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, and Sigourney Weaver. yesplease³.

And as if that weren't enough, you've got Charlotte Rampling on the inside! A whole huge photogallery of her... "Charlotte in Couture".

The average age of these women is 66. The average fabulousity of these women is ∞. Just saying.

More links...
Scott Feinberg interviews Halle Berry
The Evening Class Liza Minnelli interviews and TCM schedule
Deadline Hollywood Toy Story Best Picture spoofing FYC ads. The first is to your left. There's more to come as they campaign for the big prize. I'm really hoping they do Amadeus, The Hurt Locker and West Side Story. Which Best Pictures would you like to see spoofed by the toys?
Man About Town interviews Ryan Kwanten... naked. Ha.
Shadowplay proposes a mid December blog-a-thons about the last films from directors. What a fine idea. Any suggestions you'd like me write about?
Just Jared Anne Hathaway is awesome. She's already dreamt up her own role on Glee and picking songs before they've even invited her.
Moviefone If Lindsay Lohan needs to hit rock bottom to recover maybe this will do it? Malin Akerman of all people is now considered a suitable replacement.

offscreen
Gabby's Playhouse brilliant cartoon about the progression of all "sexism" discussions on the internet
The Post-Game Show on "beefcake" comic art and how it differs from cheesecake...

And finally... 
What's your take on Christian Bale's Oscar chances for The Fighter?

I was discussing this with some peers earlier today. Some people feel he's too disliked to win an Oscar (after all, many below the line players vote on Oscars and we all know that Bale has a temper on set) others that "likeability" doesn't matter so much in the face of a certain level of performance. Esquire just published a thorny profile piece. Some journalists think he's an ingrate. Others, like Kris Tapley appreciate his rough edges. My take is somewhere in the middle. Likeability does matter in awards season (a lot) and though I appreciate honesty and strong opinions, I do find that it's incredibly narcissistic when stars of a certain level bitch about their duties as stars... like doing press. Basically they wouldn't have those duties if they weren't hugely successful. If people want to talk to you that means you're more successful. All jobs come with elements that are less joyous for the worker ... but very few jobs have the rewards that star actors receive. Bitching about a tiny amount of drudgery within a life filled with extravagant reward (the only reason that tiny amount of drudgery even exists is because you're successful enough to have been extravagantly rewarded) seems very very petty. So I'm torn. I find it distasteful but on the other hand I believe art should be judged without interference from the personality of the artist.

"Thelma, don't you litter."

.

JA from MNPP here. At this point in Thelma & Louise, our girls have just robbed a convenience store (not to mention that whole shooting a rapist thing slightly earlier). In fact that tiny bottle of Wild Turkey that Thelma's contemplating chucking out of the car is amongst the stolen goods. And yet even the fiercest lady outlaws must have their standards. No littering!

Watching some of T&L this morning - it'd been awhile - the friction between the ladies they were and the criminals they're becoming is played for laughs a lot more than I'd remembered and this is one of my favorite throwaway moments. Although Louise is closed-off at the start she's hardly a schoolmarm, yet she keeps getting forced into the position with the newly rebellious Thelma, and Sarandon plays these moments with a really funny dose of bug-eyed bewilderment, unsure how she's found herself in the position of Mom. I wish she and Geena Davis had done a comedy together at some point, they would've been great at it. They still could...

Point being, happy birthday, Susan Sarandon!
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Susan & Eva

Susan Sarandon and Eva Amurri in 198? and in 2010

The picture on the left I just found in a old box from my parent's house. Was it from a Rolling Stone or a Premiere? I do not know. I'm guessing it's from 1988ish... Eva's just a wee toddler. The picture on the right is from the Emmys one week ago. (Eva turned 25 earlier this year). Hug your little loved ones right this instance. Before you know it they'll be taller than you.

I thought Eva was quite good in The Life Before Here Eyes (2007) but I haven't seen much of her work. Did anyone catch her on Californication... verdict? At any rate, she's got plenty of time to make her mark.


Susan had only done 3 films and a few TV roles at Eva's age. Sarandon's mega career was a gradual uphill walk rather than a meteoric rise. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) hit when she was 29 years old but even that wasn't really the key; the midnight movie classic was a famously a late bloomer.

We'll see Sarandon next in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps as Shia Labeouf's mom and then in the Duplass brothers Cyrus follow up Jeff Who Lives at Home. Amurri has the lead role in the upcoming horror flick Isolation.
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Streep Nom #10: The Bridges of Madison County

We've been looking at each Meryl Streep Oscar nod and its competitive field. Previously: 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88 and 90.

When The Bridges of Madison County premiered in summer (a rare Eastwood berth, indeed) it seemed like Streep might finally win her 3rd Oscar the following Spring. She'd been away from the awards race in what seemed like forever. Hilariously, that "forever" absence had only been four consecutive years (1991-1994) but for Meryl, that's an eternity. In fact, a four year absence had never happened before and has never happened since all these years later. By the end of the 1995 film year, a really actressy one, the story was a lot different and the race was suddenly all but sewn up for Sarandon with only Streep and Stone as dark horse possibilities.

1995 the nominees were

• Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking
• Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas *Nathaniel's pick. This performance kills me.*
  
• Sharon Stone, Casino
  
• Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County
• Emma Thompson, Sense & Sensibility
  

Trivia note: With this 10th honor, Streep tied Bette Davis & Jack Nicholson's overall nomination records (at the time -- Jack wasn't done giving Streep a run for #1) making them the collective #2 Oscar favored actor after Katharine Hepburn.

Back to the actual competition. How many times have we heard this almost-win story now? Meryl is flouncing along giddily in the general direction of the podium for her third triumph when suddenly...

But let us not bemoan that elusive third Oscar and instead marvel at how many valid choices Oscar made for 1995 and how good their roster might have been even if it had looked a lot different.

---> Meryl with Tom Cruise at the Oscars in March '96. (Note frosty snubbed Nicole, not yet ascendant, by his side)

Other 1995 women for context: Oscar chose the entire Globe Drama slate which meant that the comedic nominees were snubbed: Nicole Kidman (To Die For), Vanessa Redgrave (A Month by the Lake), Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding), Annette Bening (The American President) and my fav Sandra Bullock perf (While You Were Sleeping). Two critical darlings Julianne Moore [safe] and the eternally snubbed Jennifer Jason Leigh (Georgia) were ignored due to being ahead of their time and upstaged by their co-star, respectively, though Leigh did win the coveted NYFCC prize. Box office queens Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Dangerous Minds) failed to scare up awards attention outside of MTV.

Other female leads that year included: Angela Bassett (Waiting to Exhale), Julie Delpy (Before Sunrise), Lori Petty (Tank Girl), Winona Ryder (How to Make an American Quilt), Elizabeth Berkely (Showgirls) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Miami Rhapsody) getting her first taste of romantic comedy lead stardom to come.

Bassett had a fiery 95 (Strange Days & Waiting to Exhale)

Finally, the year included a few leads who were previous Oscar winners Jessica Lange (Rob Roy), Geena Davis (Cutthroat Island), Holly Hunter (Home for the Holidays) and Kathy Bates (Dolores Claiborne) none of whom were received as warmly as had often previously been the case.

See what I mean about the year being actressy? And so many fine examples of different flavors of it, too.

Nathaniel's List: It's a tasty Oscar vintage for sure -- they done good -- but I'd have to remove Stone's effortful hot mess and Thompson's sensible sister to make room for two redheads who staked their first unmistakable claims to genius: Moore & Kidman. And though I'll always love "Cher" in Clueless, I can't make room for her in such an abundant year. That said, it's utterly shameful that the Globe Comedy nominations excluded her.

AS IF!

Your thoughts on the year, please. It's so rich, don'cha think?
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Sarandon vs. Stanwyck

Have you heard that my imaginary mom* Susan Sarandon is in talks to headline a feature adaptation of The Big Valley, a feature adaptation of the 60s western television series? She is. She would play the tough matriarch Victoria Barkley in 19th century California. (Who knew that people were still greenlighting westerns? They're like the musicals, a genre that can't truly be killed even if it sits entire decades out for the most part.) This means that she's risking comparisons to one of the critical darlings of all time, Barbara Stanwyck. This should be as nerve wracking for actressexuals as Kate Winslet testing her modern mettle against the ultimate Joan Crawford performance in that Mildred Pierce remake.

It also makes you wonder what's going on with that western Julianne Moore vehicle Boone's Lick which is not one of Amber Waves imaginary porn films but an actual western feature that Julianne is/was? supposed to star in. (Incidentally it was also supposed to co-star Tom Hanks. Yes, he's incidental to me. JULIANNE!)

*it's a long story.

The Somewhat Lovely Bones?

You probably caught on Awards Daily that some early reviews of The Lovely Bones are out. Lots more to come presumably. But did you see this tweet from British actor/novelist/funny man Stephen Fry

Variety is significantly less riveted than Fry, calling it an "artistic disappointment". Todd McCarthy also crushes my dreams by starting the review talking about Heavenly Creatures, a film which he seems to hold in as high regard as I do (One of the three best films of the 1990s, if you ask me).

The "disappointment" seems to stem from Jackson's infatuation with visual f/x. As for its actors, this bit is interesting...

With reddish hair, brilliantly alive eyes and a seemingly irrepressible impulse for movement and activity, Ronan represents a heavenly creature indeed, a figure of surging, eager, anticipatory life cut off just as it is budding. Less quicksilver and more solidly built, McIver's Lindsey properly begins in her live-wire sister's shadow only to grow gradually into an impressive figure. Chain-smoking and depleting the liquor cabinet, Sarandon camps it up for a few welcome laughs...

McCarthy is less impressed with the parental units, Wahlberg and Weisz. Are you still counting down the days until dem bones arrive?

Streep Nom #7-8: The Abundant Riches of 1987-88

We've been looking at each Meryl Streep Oscar nod and its competitive field. Previously: 78, 79, 81, 82, 83 and 85

Meryl Streep's first act was the Liberated Lady. The second was The Chameleon in which Meryl was always the lead, always had new hair, voice and body language and basically controlled Oscar's Universe. It was as if there was only 4 spots for Best Actress, one reserved for her in perpetuity. This second act ended with her intense immersion into notorious dingo-hating Lindy Chamberlain in A Cry in the Dark. [Editor's Note: Yes, I'll do a top ten performance list when "Streep at 60" wraps in mid July. I've heard your requests and I've been rewatching all the movies.]

Starting in 1989 Act III of Streep's career began but we'll get to that shortly. First, let's look at her competition in the last two years of her legendary Act II.

1987

the nominees were...

• Cher, Moonstruck
• Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction
• Holly Hunter, Broadcast News
• Sally Kirkland, Anna
• Meryl Streep, Ironweed
  

I've always loved that "Mary Louise" exchange. But is Cher rewriting history to claim Silkwood as her first movie or was Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean filmed second and released first?

Other 87 ladies for context: The Globe nominees that weren't Oscar nominated were Barbra Streisand (Nuts), Faye Dunaway (Barfly), Rachel Chagall (Gaby: A True Story), Diane Keaton (Baby Boom), Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing) and Bette Midler (Outrageous Fortune). The year also included: Lindsay Crouse (House of Games), Cher & Sarandon & Pfeiffer (The Witches of Eastwick), Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona), Ellen Barkin (The Big Easy), Robin Wright (The Princess Bride), Mia Farrow (September), Mimi Rogers (Someone To Watch Over Me) and Daryl Hannah (Roxanne)

Nathaniel's List. This is one of the truly rare Oscar years in that I love every single nominated Best Actress performance. I'm not talking just like but love, would-propose-marriage-to deep love. My only sadness then and now is that Oscar doesn't give double nominations (Hunter in Raising Arizona = amazing and possibly even better than in News) and that there wasn't room for Emily Lloyd's fresh and now little seen debut performance in Wish You Were Here. Emily won the NSFC Best Actress prize, a BAFTA nomination and my own heart. No one speaks of her anymore but it seemed like she was going places in 1987. Those places didn't materialize. After a few short years of lead roles her film career withered into occasional supporting parts and then... nothing.

Here's an in-depth article about the many things that went wrong for Lloyd following her breakthrough role. Yet another example of why I usually try to wait before obsessing over newer actresses.

1988
the nominees were...

• Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons
• Jodie Foster, The Accused
• Melanie Griffith, Working Girl
• Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark
• Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist

Other 88 women for context
The year's most outrageous snub was surely Globe nominee Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham. The movie had been a big hit, it lifted her into a new tier of stardom, her reviews were ecstatic and it arguably remains her best work. 1988 also marked the peak of Barbara Hershey's career. In just twelve months on US screens she had a huge hit (Beaches) and saw the release of not but one TWO consecutive Cannes winning performances (Shy People and A World Apart). But outside of the south of France she was only recognized once (Chicago Film Critics).

Oh the rollercoaster of fame! Glenn Close, Kim Basinger and Barbara
Hershey were all smiles in 1984 (they co-starred in the baseball drama
The Natural). Who knew that Basinger, the least acclaimed at the time,
would become the sole Oscar winner?

Globe kudos that didn't transfer to Oscar were the winner Shirley Maclaine (Madame Sousatzka) and nominees Amy Irving (Crossing Delancey) and the awesome trio of Christine Lahti (Running on Empty), Jamie Lee Curtis (A Fish Called Wanda), and Michelle Pfeiffer (Married to the Mob). 1988 also included Gena Rowlands (Another Woman), Bette Midler (Beaches), Geena Davis (Beetle Juice), Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) and the debut of Ricki Lake (Hairspray).

<-- Meryl and Don at the March 89 Oscars

Nathaniel's List I consider 1988 one of the richest years of all time for female leads (though I don't much like the performance that won the Oscar. Figures). So without rescreening 7 or 8 films, I can't decide. But of one thing I am reasonably certain: my gold and silver medals would be melted down, mixed together and handed simultaneously to Glenn Close and Susan Sarandon if I were ever allowed the one-time Best Actress tie that Oscar itself gave out (in 1968). Meryl Streep would be in the mix and the remaining two spots would be hard won between...

Don't make me decide right now. I change my mind. This year gives me migraines... of pleasure.

What are your lists like for 1987 and 1988?
Who do you think should have won and which movies top your list of "I must see this!" if you haven't already?

Hump Day Hotness: Marital Bliss

Have you seen Vanity Fair's list of Hollywood's rarest unions: the longterm actor/actress marriage? I don't need to tell you that most Tinseltown marriages end in divorce. Yet some couple stick by each other and anyone in a long term relationship or marriage will know what a feat that often is. The immortal Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are the longest lasting dual movie star marriage -- they were married for 50 years before Newman's death (2008, RIP). But the lengthiest dual actor marriages ever? The Reagans with 52 years and, up at the tippity top, recent Oscar nominee Ruby Dee (American Gangster) and Ossie Davis (2005, RIP) with 56 years of happily ever after.


I'm sure you've heard the famous Newman paraphrase about fidelity

Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?

but what I loved most about their celebrated marriage was that they weren't overly sentimental about it in interviews, often admitting that couples can drive each other nuts, and regularly implying that patience and space are required -- they probably weren't co-dependent nuts in other words. They were able to do things without the other. The sense of humor also definitely helped. I hadn't read this before but I love the inscription on Newman's wedding gift (sherry glasses and a silver cup) to Woodward in 1958

So you wound up with Apollo / If he's sometimes hard to swallow / Use this.

The longest SAG marriages still running: Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives) and Richard Benjamin (Portnoy's Complaint) who've been together since 1961 and Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis and Louis Zorich (Mad About You) who've been together since 1962.

The only thing unsatisfying about a very satisfying stability-list like this is that a lot of star couples skip the matrimony part* so it's not entirely accurate. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have been together for 21 years now and have yet to marry. And then there's the 26 year situation between Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

Clockwise, top left: Patricia Wetting & Ken Olin, Tim Robbins &
Susan Sarandon (not married), Helena Bonham-Carter & Tim Burton (not
married), Dukakis & Zurich,The Beatty / The Bening, Will and Jada, Amy
Madigan & Ed Harris and Jamie Lee Curtis & Christopher Guest.

Two weeks back I attended a wedding in Austin which was multi-racial / multi-cultural (Japanese and American) and multi-religious (Shinto, Unitarian, Mormon) and included a moment to honor those who can't be legally married yet (the bride, a longtime friend of mine, has two mommies and two daddies). It was awesome. So anyone who thinks Rachel Getting Married was pure east coast liberal fiction can suck it! My point, which I haven't even gotten to, is this: Ain't love grand? ... and complicated ... and hard to measure... and worth celebrating whether it's fresh or well aged and whether or not there's a wedding certificate?! Celebrate it!

Truth, Beauty, Freedom...
and above all things, Love

P.S. Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson (aka "Abs & Boobs") have now been married for 7½ months !

<--- P.S. 2 Check out this awesome photograph of Newman and Woodward at home, just a few years into their marriage. SO adorable. Thanks to Catherine for pointing the way to it.

previously on hump day hotties:
April Fools, Battlestar Galactica, Carla Gugino, Juliette Binoche, Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna and many more...

May Flowers, Patricia Clarkson

May Flowers, weeknights @ 11:00

It's the last Mother's Day post of the year. Hope you had a great day or chat with your mom.

Patty Clarkson and Susan Sarandon were already personal heroes of mine. And now co-starring in this "Mother Lover" digital short opposite Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake? Priceless... especially given that Susan has always been viewed as a saucy minx, no matter what her age (I suspect it has a lot to do with those "Damnit Janet!" origins) and Patty is a saucy minx in real life (trust me, I've seen her in person twice)


I especially love Patty's frumpy skipping with a single daisy in this video. Patty as frumpy mom. Now that's ACTING because Patty is anything but frumpy.

sigh, I ♥ Patty so hard!

Do not watch this video if you are easily offended.

Breakfast With ... Thelma & Louise

Just coffee and girl talk.
(I hope it's decaf. Thelma is already bouncing off the walls)

Thelma: Hiiii-iiiii
Louise: What happened to your hair?
Thelma: Nothing. It got messed up.


Louise: Thelma. What's wrong with you?
Thelma: Nothing. Why. Do I seem different?
Louise: Well... now that you mention it, yeah, you -- you seem like you're crazy or you're on drugs.


Thelma: Well, I'm not on drugs
.>>>>>>... But I might be CRAAZZZZZY!

I don't think I've ever properly expressed how much I love Thelma & Louise but let me just say that this movie makes me as happy as Brad Pitt's hitchhiking cowboy made Geena Davis's Thelma!


(In other words: When I saw this movie in 1991 it was like I "finally got laid properly")
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The Links of Eastwick

Popnography Jamie Bell in the TinTin movie. Yes
Getty Images best and worst of SAG red carpet
Best Week Ever on Evan Rachel Wood. 'Her lips are busy!'
My Stuff & Cr*p listen to tracks from all the nominated Oscar scores


Just Jared interviews Alan Cumming. He's started directing again
Yuppie Punk mp3s to coincide with this year's Oscar nominees
Empire Driver and Swank co-starring in a legal drama that hopes to be all Erin Brockovichy
Movie City Indie Dustin Lance Black's on the abundant Milk nominations
Charlie Rose Great conversation about Benjamin Button with AO Scott and David Denby. Watch it

The Daily says goodbye to celebrated author John Updike who died earlier today. As you may know, Updike's last novel, published just about a year ago now, was a sequel to The Witches of Eastwick called The Widows of Eastwick. He didn't like the 1980s film version of the earlier novel (though he was a fan of Michelle Pfeiffer's "Sukie") and many stories from the set at the time indicated that the stars weren't that happy either. Nevertheless, I'm hoping that his estate, the actresses and the movie studios think hard about mounting a film adaptation. How grand could a reunion of Susan Sarandon, Cher and La Pfeiffer be? Their characters are 15 or so years older in Widows than their counterpart celebrities are now so there's plenty of time to get this project cracking (Start now. Movies take forever... especially when expensive/skittish/retired actors are involved) and we definitely need more films about elderly women. When was the last time someone made a movie primarily about them?

Golden Globes:Best Red Carpet Moments and Quick Thoughts

I haven't been very coherent today so I'm not trying to type much at you. But here's a little 7 minute video I prepared with some fun Golden Globe arrival moments and subtitles to show you what I was thinking at the time. Just for... well, for no reason whatsoever.



I hope you're not Globed out yet. Here are a few thoughts on the wins at my Golden Globe category pages

The Witches of Eastwick in 2008

La Pfeiffer, Cher and Sarandon... photographed in 2008

I'm aware that John Updike did not like the film version of his classic novel The Witches of Eastwick. But now that he's written its sequel, set three decades later appropriately titled The Widows of Eastwick... can we please have a movie sequel? Pretty pretty pretty please. I know the experience wasn't exactly a happy one for the actresses involved or the author himself but could you imagine seeing these three legends together again one last time? Who needs the devilish Jack Nicholson?

photo by Richard Corman

I mean Alexandra Jane and Sukie dumped him in the first movie anyway. When does filming start? Oh come on! LET'S GO HOLLYWOOD, LET'S GO. Which devil do I have to sell my soul to to make this fantasy happen? My soul is available at a discount for this one.


This post may not seem scary enough for Halloween but I bet you Veronica Cartwright is pretty damn unnerved whilst staring at it. She may even projectile vomit!

Mystery Women Revealed!!!!!!

Posted by Thombeau von Fabulon.


Thanks to everyone who played our little game. Above are the women we featured, as more or less themselves. Will any of them end up as iconic as the legends they portrayed? Discuss.

Mothers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Adventures in DC Part 2

This weekend with friends visiting for the holidays we hit a lot of museums (and margaritas. shhhh). My friends are almost to a one culture lovers so museums are often good options. One of the best things we saw was something called The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image (closing this coming weekend, here's a NYT review]. All of the video installations were about the way the motion picture portrays or pretend realism. My favorite piece in the roundup was by Candice Breitz and simply titled Mother (pictured below)


In the supremely well edited six screen extravaganza Faye Dunaway as Mommie Dearest, Susan Sarandon & Julia Roberts from Stepmom, Meryl Streep the ex Mrs. Kramer, Diane Keaton The Good Mother and Shirley Maclaine ...from the Edge have what amounts to a schizophrenic tearful and angry conversation filled with interrupted monologues and asides about being mothers and women. Fused together and separated from the context of their films, Keaton actually rivals Dunaway's camp icon for overacting and Maclaine comes across as the most sane. "I am...[slams piano]... STILL. HERE." This, as you may have guessed, is unsettling. Clearly none of them have been taking their meds. It's very very funny.

Thought provoking too, sure, in its voyeuristic way but I mention the funny because too few people in museums ever laugh. Another piece in the exhibit lampoons the E! True Hollywood Story pretending great typical rise-and-fall fame for Francesco Vezzoli following that nifty Trailer for the Remake of Caligula in which he convinced Gerard Butler, Helen Mirren, Milla Jovovich, Courtney Love and more to star. His E! prank follows all of the beats of those shallow infotainment documentaries so well that anyone who sat next to me in the room didn't get that it was a spoof. (I saw the ending three times -- trying to let friends catch up) and both times when it ended conversations were along the lines of "I have never heard of this guy. He's famous?" or "Did he really die?" Before you think this is a Nathaniel feeling superior moment I assure you it was more along the lines of confusion. The exhibit is called "Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image" and every piece is about how the presented real is never real. I really think misunderstandings arise because people don't expect humor when they go to see "Art". Certainly not humor that pairs Dame Helen Mirren, gay porn, Dietrich, biopic cliché and infotainment specials.

P.S. There was also a companion piece to Mother called Father which featured Dustin Hoffman, Steve Martin, Jon Voight, Tony Danza (!?) and Harvey Keitel but it wasn't as interesting. Men never are. But give me six Hollywood moms on the verge of nervous breakdowns? Bliss.
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Because you've been good museum attendees today, here's a retro treat. It's Shirley Maclaine's house rattling "I'm Still Here" from Postcards from the Edge.



How Maclaine wasn't Oscar nominated for this turn as the Debbie Reynolds-esque mom in this movie is one of the great mysteries of the 1990s.
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Speed Failure

Spout has an interesting piece by Karina Longworth on why Speed Racer's box office failure ($18 on opening weekend with a $120 budget. OUCH) might be bad for "the cinema" some critics think it's trying to kill. Okay, one critic. That was the attention hording Armond White. I hear what Longworth is saying (and I love Bound too, nice shout out) but...

...defending the Wachowski's under "auteurism" is dangerous ground. Sure they have a point of view but do they make good films? Comparing them to Michael Bay is futile. It'll be unpopular to say but isn't he in his own banal way, just as much of an auteur as they are? I know people like to think of him as a hack. But "auteur" doesn't mean "good", it means "author" and can't you recognize Bay films as having one? Don't they scream "Michael Bay!" I'd argue that they do. Not an author I want to read, y'now, but still...

Also, calling Speed Racer "beautiful" is a stretch. I saw it last night and it's like it snacked on the f/x from Tron, black velvet paintings and old kaleidoscopes. Then, cuz it was still hungry and monochromatic (!) and whatnot, it swallowed the The Curse of the Golden Flower rainbow castle set whole, devoured every Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox it could get its hands on. Post meal, it ingested a few mushrooms for good measure... and then vomited it all back out again to be photographed by Pierre et Gilles. Or that's what it looked like to me. And isn't that a more suitable aesthetic for, say, Dazzler?

I think that's a fair question.

The Brothers Wachowski don't seem to have any self editing skills and to borrow a Project Runway's judging phrase 'I worry about their taste level'. You can applaud Speed Racer as its own peculiar contraption, I'll give it that. But the contraption is not even a car... which is disappointing. It doesn't move like cars do. Speed could just as easily be driving an airplane or a sleek sofa for how the "contraption" moves... backflips, sideways without slowing down (as if wheels can pivot in any direction, although they don't which makes the driving scenes nonsensical), any which way... or every way at once. Even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which could fly and swim, behaved more like a car.

The movie works from time to time (its mostly committed to its experimentation) but it's messy and undisciplined. It experiments and then forgets to experiment. It revs it's engines and forgets to go. Or it goes to nowhere in particular. It comes to crashing halts for dialogue scenes, bereft of any ideas about human interaction, even though you can tell that they're meant to be played all goofy Spider-Man sincere). But sincerity needs to be felt. Even rainbow colored sincerity.

Speed Racer is definitely of the new post-Bourne school of action films where storyboarding, geography and physical suspense are not the issues at all... action films being all about abstraction now what with their disorienting multiple angles, supersonic cutting, blurred color and zoom pans. I sometimes wonder why action films cost so much to make. The new action films really don't have to make any physical sense so why not just recycle your big shots in different order for each scene, maybe flip a few images upside down or horizontally? Toss the scenes into the air like 21 Grams and wherever they land call it a day? The scenes, the cuts, the action would play virtually the same.

I hate to sound like an old man 'kids these days!' type but I'm so nostalgic for the early aughts. And that was not long ago. I long for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings or Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon when I watch action flicks. In those great genre flicks, you always understood exactly what was happening despite fast editing and bounteous action. The fights, chases, and collisions never wanted for intensity (if anything, understanding what you're seeing makes them more intense and "WHOA!") and the directors never once forgot about their actors or the story arcs during the fights. It seems so revolutionary not even a decade later.

About Speed Racer's actors: "Spridle" must be put down before he mugs his way through any more films. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon make do. I love my Christina Ricci in (almost) anything but aside from the googly-eyed endearing way she delivers Trixie's signature "cool beans!" and the fact that she already looks like a cartoon, the character is inconsequential. And Emile Hirsch... Oh, Emile. What can we do with you? Give me something Emile! The camera is actually on you. You're not part of the ensemble. You're the lead.

Does it sound like I hated it? I don't think I did. Like I said, it is nearly always itself. That's something. And it wants to be for kids and I'm not 8. It also wants, like many movies, to be a video game. I personally like video games. They're fun. But I'd rather play them than watch them. If I'm watching I'm just impatient for when it's my turn with the control pad. C+ (?)

Have you seen Speed Racer? If not have you braved the 7 minute free preview without protective goggles? Did you experience retina burn, throbbing temples or did you love the abstraction of this "ride"? To each their own. Do tell...
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Top 12 Actresses of the Past 25 Years

Tuesday Top Ten Twelve: for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

As you may have read below, I'm getting ready to leave on that trip which has filled me with much aging anxiety... but one good thing about aging in terms of movie-loving: you get perspective. It's impossible to look at any current actor / director / critical / movie and attendant audience response and assume that the gradations of love or hoopla in place now are permanent things ...even your own feelings change. Actors fade or grow in stature, celebrities pop up out of nowhere, films that everyone loves people forget about and the reverse happens, too.

I was wandering 'round the web today and chanced upon this cover of Life magazine celebrating the movies in 1986! So long ago... but I remember being excited to buy it in high school. This was long before those Vanity Fair Hollywood issues. Jessica Lange, Sally Field, Barbra Streisand, Goldie Hawn and Jane Fonda are listed as "Hollywood's Most Powerful Women"... that wasn't completely accurate even at the time considering that Meryl Streep and Kathleen Turner were the top superstars by anyone's sane account of mid 80s American cinema. But back on topic: these five movie careers were all about to shrink rapidly.

It got me to thinking about who I love now versus who I loved then so herewith are a dozen favorites (I couldn't restrict myself to ten) from the past twenty-five years. Not all of them are doing so well at the moment and some are now too old for lead roles in Hollywood but if you smoosh all those years together this is something approximating my dozen favorites --the women that I was seeing as I morphed from casual moviegoer to the über film fiend I am now.

Twelve Favorite Actresses (1983-2008)
In rough ascending order. Ask me tomorrow and rank would vary

If we make it a baker's dozen you'd see one of these names in the mix: Angela Bassett, Helena Bonham-Carter, Juliette Lewis, Emma Thompson, Tilda Swinton, Toni Collette, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Miranda Richardson or Christina Ricci. But this is a quarter century of love compiled... Obviously the top dozen of right now would be much different and quite a lot younger.


12 Nicole Kidman. Age: 40. First feature: BMX Bandits (1983). First time I saw her: Days of Thunder (1990)... I was not impressed. When I started to take her seriously: To Die For (1995). When I fell in love: Moulin Rouge! (2001). Her three best performances: Moulin Rouge! (2001), Birth (2004) and either The Others (2001) or To Die For (1995) depending on which day you ask me. I can't wait for: Australia (2008).

11 Annette Bening. Age: 49. First feature: The Great Outdoors (1988). First time I saw her, when I started to take her seriously, and when I fell in love: Postcards From The Edge (1990) --a one scene comic wonder. I didn't even look at Meryl Streep. This, you may have guessed, hardly ever happens. Her three best performances: The Grifters (1991), Being Julia (2004) and American Beauty (1999). I can't wait to see what kind of a spin she puts on the Roz Russell role in The Women (2008).

10 Mia Farrow Age: 63. First feature: John Paul Jones (1955). First time I saw her: Broadway Danny Rose (1984). I love her primarily due to that long and fruitful collaboration with Woody Allen. It ended poorly, sure. But not before they gave the cinema many treasures. Her three best performances in this time frame: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Alice (1990) and Broadway Danny Rose (1984). Also Oscar nomination worthy in Husbands and Wives (1992) and that's not even counting her earlier work. She's my choice for the #1 most egregiously Oscar snubbed actor of all time. That's right... in the entire history of Oscar's 80 years she has the most cause to bitch.


09 Uma Thurman. Age: 37. First feature: something from 1988. She made four movies in her first year. When I first saw her & fell in love lust: Dangerous Liaisons (1988)... it wasn't true love yet because I had a hard time seeing past Glenn Close & Michelle Pfeiffer at the time. Uma and I have had a rocky relationship and she may be the least purely talented of these 12 women but I shan't lie and pretend that my heart doesn't beat faster when I see her, no matter how uneven her work may be. Her three best performances: Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003), Henry & June (1990) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Next movie: Life Before Her Eyes, a survivor's guilt drama in which Evan Rachel Wood plays her younger self.

08 Dianne Weist. Age: 59. First feature: It's My Turn (1980), a Jill Clayburgh vehicle. First time I saw her: Footloose (1984). When I fell in love: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1995) --a brief but endearing role. Her three best performances: Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) --were two Oscar winning performances by the same performer ever this different? -- and Parenthood (1999). She's the only performer in my lifetime that the Academy ever got it exactly right with in terms of nominations and wins for the exact right performances. Next up for Dianne: Part of the delicious stacked feminine ensemble of Synechdoche New York (2008).

07 Holly Hunter. Age: 49. First feature: The Burning (1981). First time I saw her and it wasn't just me who fell in love: Raising Arizona and Broadcast New (1987) a back to back wonder. Her three best performances: In what movie is she not amazing? Here's an old top ten. My sentimental fav' in some ways: Living out Loud (1998). Next up for Holly: more Saving Grace on television (see: related post)


06 Susan Sarandon. Age: 61. First feature: Joe (1970). First time I saw her: a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show (1977) in the 80s of course. Her three best performances in this time period: Dead Man Walking (1995), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Bull Durham (1988). True story: I carried a picture of her in my wallet for many years. Next up: Playing "Mom Racer" in Speed Racer (2008). Anxiously awaiting some filmmaker to give her a big juicy lead again. If Julie Christie, Judi Dench and Helen Mirren can get leads and Oscar nominations for their efforts, why not Sarandon?

05 Kate Winslet. Age: 32. First feature, when I first saw her and when I fell in love: all in one glorious package which happens to be Peter Jackson's best film and happens to be called Heavenly Creatures (1994). Her three best Performances: Holy Smoke (1999), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Sense & Sensibility (1995). Next: appearing on every ballot of my Actress Psychic Contest for either The Reader or Revolutionary Road. Seriously y'all: Calm down!

04 Kathleen Turner. Age: 53. First feature: Body Heat (1981). When I first saw her and fell hard: Romancing the Stone (1984). More Kathleen Turner loving here.


These final three ladies I talk about too much. Hell, maybe I talk about all twelve too much. Next month I'll restrain myself from frequent topics and go new places. Promise. But today, I must indulge. It's my comfort food before a stressful trip. If you haven't had enough and are curious you can click away for redundant drooling.

03 Julianne Moore Age: 47. For much Mooooore, see previous posts. Julianne has two chances to win me back this year with Savage Grace and Blindness. Otherwise, I don't know what I'll do. We've been estranged.

02 Meryl Streep Age: 58. If you love Streep --and who doesn't save Pauline Kael (RIP)? --don't doubt that there's more.

01 Michelle Pfeiffer Age: 49. If you love the one and only, there's more posts than you can probably read. Plus, the famous Pfeiffer Pforever blog-a-thon from '06.

Twenty-Five years of cinema. 1983 to 2008... who makes your list? And if you've only recent succumbed to the cinema in full, which actress from the past quarter century are you most to investigate? It's easier than it ever was to get acquainted with cinematic years gone by.
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