Decade in Review: 2000 Top Ten

What follows is my original top ten list of 2000... or rather the revised version I published in 2002. Let's discuss each year of this decade as it winds down! Who's with me?!? It's always interesting to see which films remained at the forefront of our memory and which fade... both for a variety of reasons, quality being only one factor. New comments are in red.

Please note: This list was based on NYC release dates in the year 2000. Some movies are listed as different years at the IMDB based on when they were released in their home country or in LA or whatnot.




Runners Up (in descending order): Une Liaisons Pornographique, Nurse Betty, You Can Count On Me, Before Night Falls, Pola X, Chicken Run, American Psycho, Wonder Boys and Billy Elliott Um... WHAT THE HELL are some of these movies doing outside the top ten list? You Can Count on Me is still so lovely to think about. Particularly Laura Linney's gleeful waving to brother Mark Ruffalo and that beautifully coaxed ending, bless. Of these nine pictures, I think of American Psycho (originally #17!?) most -- see previous posts -- and then probably Pola X which I know a lot of people hate.


P.S. Those people are cuckoo!


10 Jesus Son
Allison MacLean's stark and arresting drug drama is laced with surprising (but occassionally off putting) comedy and blessed with two astonishing, enigmatic performances by Samantha Morton and Billy Crudup. Filled with memorable imagery it feels optimistic in such a realistic way that it should be required viewing in rehab.

I've rarely thought of this movie since but one image, Samantha Morton shimmying towards her man, remains particularly vivid. Morton is such an electric actor and she's never lost that alien watchability, even as her face has grown familiar.

09 Urbania
Full review here. Jon Shear's directorial debut (an adaptation of Daniel Reitz' stage play) is an exhilarating and unexpected ride through urban anxiety and grief. It's stunning. And though I'll cop to perhaps a little trouble being objective about it (it hit close to home), I'm betting that this overlooked film will grow in stature.
I probably overestimated this one at the time, which on a revisit a few years later felt too stagebound to totally work as cinema but I still wish more people would have seen / do see it. Dan Futterman is strong in the lead role.

08 Bring It On
Full review here. A dozen reasons to love Bring It On: 1. The best teen comedy in at least five years. 2. Hugely enjoyable, a great popcorn film. 3. Elisha Dushku's va va voom (for all of you Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans) -"Missy is the poo. So take a whiff!" 4. The toothbrush scene 5. Allows itself important themes (racism, sexual orientation, appropriation versus theft) without once feeling like a downer or casting the themes aside. 6. Spirit fingers. 7. "Cheerleaders are dancers who have gone retarded!" 8. "Brrrrr....it's cold in here." 9. Torrance plays the cassette. 10. A sports movies that's actually a good sport. 11. A gay man that's hotter than the straight men? Now, there's something you don't see too often in the homophobia ridden world of cinema. 12. Kirsten Dunst in top comic form, what more do you need?

07 Idioterne
Lars Von Trier's much maligned first and only "official" Dogme 95 film, The Idiots, is an in your face marvel. This Danish madman splits cinephiles in love and loathe camps. I'm firmly in the love category. His genius is clearly visible but only for those who have eyes to see...

Before Antichrist arrived to give me pause, I would have called this movie the definitive von Trier. It's so tellingly of him: the humor, the aesthetic, the not-entirely-serious self regard. I still think it's one of his best and most successfully provocative pictures

06 The House of Mirth
Gillian Anderson's coming out ball. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it was "the best performance in any category all year" as I've read in at least one review... she was up to the challenge of Lily Bart. But hey, I knew she transferred. She already proved that with Playing by Heart. And leaving Anderson aside for a moment, it's an exceedingly intelligent and gorgeous adaptation from Terence Davies which is sure to garner at least a few deserved technical nods at the Oscars. God bless Terence Davies for not having Joanne Woodward READ the whole freaking story to us as we watched (Are you listening Scorsese?)

I compared it unfavorably to The Age of Innocence? While I do very much hate overbearing voiceovers, there's a lot to recommend in both films. Why was I mad at Scorsese in 2000? Hmmm, what came out then? I haven't thought of Mirth in years and years and I am surprised to see it in my top ten list. It's amusing how I entirely misread its Oscar chances (nomination total: zero) but it's sad that Gillian Anderson's film career never really panned out.

05 Erin Brockovich
At its core it's a brassy superbly wrought star vehicle with Julia Roberts at her all time best. With Soderbergh's auteurial skills in full bloom however, it's elevated to a whole other realm of humanity. Sharp, funny, focused, and auteurial ...and for my money stronger than Soderbergh's other more highly praised 2000 endeavor. At any rate it's easily the best pure "Hollywood" film of the year.

04 Beau Travail
Claire Denis contemplative masterwork of masculine rituals and hierarchy.

Then and now I seem to be at a loss for words but oh, how that movie lingers. Greatness. Haven't seen it in years, though and it's obviously one that needs multiple viewings to fully appreciate.

03 Requiem For a Dream
Darren Aronofsky's astoundingly cinematic second film is not easy to sit through, but the rewards are great. Ellen Burstyn is miraculous as an unravelling diet pill addict. Jennifer Connelly and Jared Leto are heartbreaking as the foolish young lovers who throw their lives away but the film's ultimate power comes courtesy of Aronofsky's vision. Making as bold a statement as you can make about what the cinema can and should do, he discards any narrative device other than imagery. The further I get away from the film the more it's looking like a masterpiece.


02 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Ang Lee & James Schamus's delightful one off homage to a favorite genre. The modern feminist kung fu genre pic is fused with an old fashioned romantic period piece by a superb cast, haunting gorgeous cinematography by Peter Pau, and Ang Lee's own seemingly infallible directorial instincts. Whichever culture or characters he fixes his versatile lens on, he gets straight to the heart of the matter. Ang Lee tops his own impressive roster of films (Sense & Sensibility, The Ice Storm, & The Wedding Banquet among them) and makes what could only be called magic. This movie will restore your faith in the cinema. No joke. It's that wondrous.

01 Dancer in the Dark
Full review here. Lars von Trier. Björk. Catherine Deneuve. "Love it. Hate it. See It." Overwhelming, visionary, absolute genius... I'm tempted to call it best of the decade and there's nine years left to go.

I sure went hyperbolic on my bronze, silver and gold medalists there. It's a good thing all three pictures hold up. Though I suppose it's worth noting that Requiem for a Dream which I labelled 'not easy to sit through' is the one I've sat through the most on this entire top ten list in the intervening years... even more than Bring It On. What a double feature that is, eh?



What are your favorite pictures from 2000?
Which that you used to love are you surprised that you let go? Which have changed the most for you over the years? Which do you think I should revisit.

Katey and Nathaniel Talk Antichrist

Katey moved far far away

She didn't leave New York exactly but I'm being dramatic about it because we used to live mere blocks away. She's too far away. Getting together has been more difficult so we're experimenting this week with a remote discussion of Antichrist. I was not alone in my difficulty connecting with it... though we both recommend in that 'we're film fanatics and you have to see certain films' kind of way.



It was good to chat movies with Katey again. Have you seen this particular controversy magnet yet, now that it's in theaters and VOD?
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Birthday Suits: Tilda's Frontal & Sam's Moon

I was going to try out this new quickie daily birthday feature. Only it's not quickie it's longie. I can't even do filler without breaking my back. Sigh, I'll never be a mega famous blogger. I care too much!


Today's birthdays 11/05
For those prone to celebrating the filmic and famous.

1905 Joel McCrea undervalued 40s star. Read this great piece on his career
1913 Vivien Leigh, more on her soon
1931 Ike Turner didn't deserve Tina. But, ugh, remember how great Laurence Fishburne was in What's Love Got To Do Without It?

1940 Elke Sommer, the German movie star turns 69 years young today. She was very generous with her birthday suit back in the 60s. Wouldn't you be if you looked like that? On a sad note I have never seen the infamous movie The Oscar (1966) which is about the Oscars that she co-stars in. Is it as bad as they say? I must see it.
1943 Sam Shepard, playwright/actor/Mr. Jessica Lange
1958 Mo Gaffney turns 51 today. To quote the funny lady herself via AbFab [patting older person on the back] "I love old things". My best friend, who is a touch younger than me, does this Mo Gaffney bit to me all the time. I hate him.
1958 Robert Patrick FBI agent and T-1000 [I ♥ T2!]
1959 Bryan Adams, musician. Sobering if ungenerous birthday thought of the day: Oscar nominations for movie songwriting; Bryan Adams, 3; Madonna, 0. Some songs that Madonna has written for the movies: "Into the Groove", "Crazy For You", "Live To Tell", "This Used to Be My Playground", "I'll Remember", "Beautiful Stranger", "Die Another Day". God, that music branch is f***ed up.

1960 TILDA SWINTON I just felt like shouting the name... the glorious name. One of my favorite moments in all of 90s cinema is when Swinton as the male Orlando wakes up in Orlando, suddenly female. She briefly checks out her new parts in the mirror, full frontal, and then matter-of-factly "same person. different sex". I've loved Tilda ever since but I readily admit I didn't expect that she'd achieve the sort of international fame and enduring reputation that she has. It's a happy miracle. [more on Tilda]
1963 Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon) is still the youngest competitive Oscar winner of all time.
1964 Famke Jannsen, whom I interviewed at length last year, turns 45.
1971 Jonny Greenwood is a brilliant musician. In addition to his work with Radiohead he gave us one of the very best film scores of the entire decade with There Will Be Blood. Oscar's music branch considered it unnominatable in one of their stupidest, most egregiously inconsistent moments. This post has become about how much I hate Oscar's music branch which was not my intention at all... this post is about... Birthdays! Celebrate them.

Finally, we wish Sam Rockwell, secret weapon of many a movie, a very happy 41st birthday. We wish him well on his grassroots Oscar campaign for Moon. Not least because it's important for Oscar to at least think about what constitutes fine acting outside the safe zones of tearful drama and sober historical reenactments. Other genres can provide great performances, too. We would also like to thank Sam for being particularly generous with his birthday suit, considering the full monty (Lawn Dogs) and plentiful moon (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Moon).

Rockwell demonstrates Things You Shouldn't Do While Driving [src]

P.S. if it's your birthday today, The Film Experience loves you. If it's your birthday tomorrow, The Film Experience might or might not love you. We'll see how long we can keep this up.
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F&L: Voiceover

first image after the opening credit segment


last line in the movie

I have no idea what's going to happen. I just -- I can't stay in the city, you know? Maybe I'll come back. You'll probably see me next week.

Can you guess the movie? My god, I love this one... even picking out this first and last bit set my heart racing. One of my favorite films of all time.

Highlight for the answer if you can't recall: KLUTE (1971)
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Curio: Barbies Reborn

Alexa from Pop Elegantiarum here. Like a lot of women, I have a love-hate relationship with Barbie. In her current incarnation, she is a stripper image of femininity that, in addition to being a bad role model for girls, is just, well, tasteless. But then I'll see a retro Barbie from the 60s and I flip for her exaggerated glamour. In the spirit of the latter, I wanted to share these repainted dolls by Noel Cruz. Noel takes your average fashion doll, like Barbie, removes the factory paint, and repaints the features. After a wardrobe change, the dolls are reborn as some favorite film characters, like this Miranda Priestly doll. Love the wardrobe, and how he managed to capture the essence of Meryl Streep's features (albeit in a streamlined Barbie way).


And he has a slew of actressy dolls too, like this dreamy Nicole Kidman. I could bore my daughter to tears with this one, acting out scenes from Cold Mountain all day.


Noel has loads of other characters and celebrities he's created, all one of a kind. Some are better than others, but all inspire loads more imagination than those fashionista Barbies out there, no?
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De Niro to the 7th? (Oscar's Male Hierarchy)

Have you been buying the minor huzz (hype+buzz) 'Robert De Niro's 7th Oscar nomination' for the holiday film Everybody's Fine? My friend txt critic saw it last night and sent the following note by phone...

it's, well, fine. most definitely a drama (despite the trailer) and conceptually a cross between About Schmidt and Four Christmases. nice, sweet and somewhat forgettable.

might, MIGHT be a nomination for DeNiro, but i wouldn't bet on it.

I dunno. I wasn't betting on it either but Best Actor sure seems vacant this year with only Colin Firth (A Single Man) and George Clooney (Up in the Air) catching any sort of real fire. As I've been saying for months, Fox Searchlight shouldn't have even hesitated to position Crazy Heart for a 2009 release. Jeff Bridges would have a clear shot at the career trophy given the field (if -- and it's always a big if since distributors routinely call upcoming performances "the performance of a lifetime" -- the star turn is as good as they say). I'm glad to hear that release is still a possibility... though the hour is getting late. UPDATE: Fox finally came through. It'll be released on December 16th. Why must everyone wait until December? Good smaller movies routinely get crushed when they're released at the same time, the heavyweight big budget contenders sucking the air out of the room as they do.

Aside from Firth and Clooney, the rest of the men are all still assumed rather than proven contenders. Anything might happen in that category.

Incidentally, if De Niro miraculously manages a seventh nod this year, it doesn't disrupt Oscar's actor hierarchy so much, it just switches who De Niro is tied with. The 22 Most-Favored list currently goes like so [please note: this is for competitive acting statistics only... some actors moonlight as producers, writers, directors, what have you]

1. Jack Nicholson (12 noms, 3 wins)
2. Laurence Olivier (10 noms, 1 win)
   
3. Spencer Tracy (9 noms, 2 wins)
4. Paul Newman (9 noms, 1 win)
   
5. (tie) Marlon Brando and Jack Lemmon (8 noms, 2 wins)
6. Al Pacino (8 noms, 1 win)
   
7. Peter O'Toole (8 noms, zero wins)
   
8. Dustin Hoffman (7 noms, 2 wins)
9. Richard Burton (7 noms, zero wins)
   
10. (tie) Robert De Niro and Michael Caine (6 noms, 2 wins)
11. (tie) Robert Duvall and Paul Muni* (6 noms, 1 win)
    
12. (6 way tie) Tom Hanks, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington and Sean Penn (all of them with 5 noms, 2 wins)
13. (tie) James Stewart and Gregory Peck (5 noms, 1 win)

There are three obvious living threats to this list that come to mind: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio (3 noms, massive stardom, gainfully employed well into the next decade) and Morgan Freeman (4 noms, 1 win and still working regularly at 72 years of age). But cross your fingers that Jeff Bridges and Albert Finney (with 4 and 5 noms respectively) get another shot at the competitive gold soon.

*depending on how you count those "unofficial" deals in the early years. If I made any mistakes in the chart -- i'm only human -- I assume you'll let me know in the comments.

Birthday Suit: Do You Dig Gig?

Celebrating the birthdays of the filmic and famous. Because, why not? If it's your big day, holla at us in the comments.

Gig and Matthew

Today's Birthdays 11/04
1868 La Belle Otero Spanish actress, courtesan to royalty, La Folies Bergere dancer and star of a scandalous silent short performing the "Valse Brilliante". Where's her biopic? In order to inject life into that zombie-like genre (no brains, only forward motion) I really think filmmakers need to look at more obscure but still fascinating figures, further back in time. If they stop trying to win Oscars and just try to tell interesting stories, I bet they'll still win the Oscars. Try harder, Hollywood.
1913 Gig Young won the supporting actor Oscar for They Shoot Horses Don't They?, a totally brilliant and Oscar historical film. Emcee roles are sometimes gold for awards contention, right?
1918 Art Carney of Harry and Tonto Oscar-winning fame
1946 Frederick Elmes, wonderfully expressive cinematographer who made those masterful David Lynch films so beautiful (Mulholland Dr, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart). Also favored by Ang Lee. Sadly, he's never been nominated for an Oscar. Next up: Jim Sheridan's remake of the Danish film Brothers.
1960 Kathy Griffin... suck it! The comedienne turns 49 today. I keep wondering when she'll change the title of her show because she's so not a D-Lister anymore.
1969 Matthew McConaughey, romantic comedy person, sun worshipper.

Finally, since we've already broached the subject of better biopic candidates why not Robert Mapplethorpe? The famously controversial and sexually fixated photographer seems ripe for a risque movie. I don't know if you've heard this (I hadn't... or I'd forgotten it out of the inability to categorize its weirdness) but early this year Eliza Dushku (yes, her) bought the rights to his life for just such a project. Hollywood is such a strange place. The real question is how the hell you'd ever make his life into a biopic without being willing to go the NC-17 route. And who is ever willing to do that? And who would play Patti Smith? To celebrate Mapplethorpe's birthday today -- he would have been 63 -- take a black and white photograph of yourself with a bullw... uh... never mind.

Would you see a Mapplethorpe biopic?

Film Experience Readers Celebrating Halloween

Several readers took up The Film Experience challenge and sent photos from their movie related Halloween costumes this past weekend. Cheers to them. Not only are TFE readers creative, movie obsessed and participatory... they're totally fetching in Halloween costumes!


Keelay went as a Camp Crystal Lake counsellor. I imagine he was very popular with any holiday revellers who happened to be wearing that infamous hockey mask. Love the tube socks. They scream summer camp.


That's Mickie and Mindy as Dallas (Bruce Willis) and Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) from 90s sci-fi extravaganza The Fifth Element. I recognized those orange-loving Gautier costumes instantly. We can only hope that one of their friends sang some technopera as the movie's best blue tentacled hair lady, the Diva Plavalaguna.


From there we race forward to the cinema of 2009. From top left we've got two Rorschachs from Watchmen. To your left is JoFo (with Lady Gaga in background. lol) who had originally planned on going as James Dean from Rebel Without a Cause until his brother lost his red leather jacket. Argh! Hate when that happens. To your right is Andrew who sent his pic with the text "Rorschach mask will not get in my way of beer" Ha! And then there's adorable Michael as adorable "Russell" from Up. I think the balloons were probably already at the party, but they provide a perfect backdrop for his costume.


Murtada, a loyal reader who I had the accidental pleasure to meet the night before Halloween (at a BINGO party of all places... I never go to those) says "Aladdin or Genie?", either way it becomes him.


And finally, Cory and girlfriend reenacted the great love affair of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? How fun. He makes her laugh. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Roger & Jessica Rabbit team on Halloween and it's beautifully done. I hope they played pattycakes when they won the costume contest that night. Well done.

Aren't these costumes great? Next year I'm totally going as a movie character. I just have to decide which one. So many choices...
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F&L 2.20

first image after the opening scrawl...


last line before the closing credits:

"May I obey all your commands with equal pleasure, sire!"

Can you guess the movie?

Highlight for the correct answer: THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938)
for all first and last puzzles, click the label below
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Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to Host the Oscars

Well, that drama was shortlived. I rather like the idea of two very funny men, who've already worked together, hosting the Oscars. It does set up a rather unusual circumstance for the big night, though. It's not often that the the movie industry's biggest night feels like one movie is sponsoring the show in which they aren't allowed to advertise. But this year one movie essentially will.


Meryl Streep has to choose between Steve and Alec in It's Complicated. But Oscar doesn't have to choose. He'll take both men. And Meryl too, possibly... if it would like to renew those vows it made back in 1982.
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Birthday Suit: Dolph 'the biggest one' Lundgren

Thought I'd goof around with a little b-day series. In case it's yours! Could be shortlived. Or maybe it'll go on forever. You never know.

Hal Hartley , Paprika Steen and Charles Bronson

Today's Birthdays, November 3rd

...some of them at any rate. For those who are prone to celebrating the lives of the filmic and famous. And if you aren't, you're not having enough fun.

1921 Charles Bronson had a Death Wish, five of them actually, and he had them before "franchise" was a daily spoken word in movie discussions.

1930 Lois Smith, sweet character actress, is now 79 years old. I once saw her in a train station. It's true. Weren't you shocked when she died on the first season of True Blood? I sure was.

<-- 1931 Monica Vitti, breathtaking Italian goddess
1953 Kate Capshaw aka Mrs. Spielberg. Did she sing or was she dubbed for that awesome "Anything Goes" opening number in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? It's a trivia question from 25 years ago. I'm so in-the-moment!
1954 Adam Ant, the acting career was short but the 80s hits live forever ♫ "we're just following ancient history if I strip for you, will you strip for me?"

1954 Brigitte Lin, The Bride With White Hair herself, is finally making another movie, The Grand Master, reuniting her with Wong Kar Wai. It's their first film together since Ashes of Time and the beloved, dream-like Chungking Express

1956 Gary Ross, producer, Oscar nomination collector, dabbles in directing (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit)

1959 Hal Hartley 90s indie auteur (The Unbelievable Truth, Trust). Where he been?
1964 Paprika Steen Danish actress, best known internationally for starring in the two most famous, most brilliant and very first Dogme 95 films: von Trier's The Idiots and Thomas Vinterberg's Festen.
1987 Gemma Ward, model/actress, recently donned creepy mask for The Strangers.
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Finally, I have to talk about Dolph Lundgren who turned 52 today. TFE's youngest readers will draw a blank but anyone over 30 will remember this Swedish hunk. Rocky's Russian rival was basically a second tier action star during the reign of Stallone & Schwarzenegger. Whenever I think of Dolph, I think of four things

1. That naked photoshoot he did with 80s girlfriend Grace Jones. What a visually striking pair they were.
2. The naked posters he did for the Chicago International Film Festival. Quite shocking at the time they were.
3. That naked action duet with Jean Claude Van Damme also known as Universal Soldier (1992)
4. That naked scene in Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991) that has to be one of the most hilarious Bad Movie sequences ever.

This sounds totally pervy, I know. But it's not like Dolph didn't invite it! He was always nekked. Ask anyone who was around in the 80s / early 90s. Back then action stars understood the selling power of the fleshy muscle display. They all sexploited themselves, not just Dolph. I sometimes think CGI was created to distract us from all the unnecessary clothing on movie stars.

In the spectacularly silly sequence mentioned above, cop Kenner (Dolph) and his partner Murata (Brandon Lee in his screen debut, prior to The Crow) take yakuza mob target Minako (Tia Carrere) to Dolph's remote home in the woods for hiding. That evening he strips down for some r&r in his outdoor hot tub. Way to hide, Dolph! Turn on them tub lights and turn on the bubbles... outdoors! Soon Tia (also naked) joins him. She learns that he built the house himself. He's beautiful naked and he has an artistic soul! Score.

Tia does. She can't sleep so she asks to share his bed. Soon enough they are doing the deed. Dolph lasts 14 seconds (literally) before Tia remarks, I kid you not, "...this time I heard you cumming". 80s movies were so racy! [editors note: I know this is a 1991 movie but it feels almost exactly like a low budget 1987 movie]. The scene is silly but it gets even more ludicrous. Dolph hears a noise outside. The evil Asian crime syndicate are surrounding the house. He jumps up (still naked) and throws on only black trunks in which he begins to shove weaponry including knives. I'm not making any of this up. Then he runs into his partner in the living room.

Some of the gayest most awkward bro dialogue ever emerges

Murata: Where's Minako?
Kenner: She's in my room
Murata: I knew that was going to happen
Kenner: She was frightened.
Murata: I saw you strip down in that hot tub. I'd be frightened too.

We're in trouble here, champ. There's more bad guys than we have bullets.

Murata: Just in case we get killed, I wanted to tell you. You have the biggest dick I've ever seen on a man.
Kenner: Thanks. (smiles) I don't know what to say.

Ummm, how about "you've seen them on women?" That's what I'd say. What the hell?

While the screenplay isn't helping, I can't even begin to express how delightfully bad the acting is, particularly by Brandon Lee. The movie probably deserves a multi-page recap article it's so time-capsule terrible. You must see it if you love bad movies. And if you already have, you must back me up in the comments.


[COME SEE THE NEW BLOG]
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This Is It Madness

two brief but belated Oscar notes

For months now, people have been reciting various reasons why the 10-Wide Best Picture field is a bad idea. For all the chatter no one has yet talked about the most harmful effect of this decision: armchair and professional punditry has slipped, perhaps irrevocably, into insanity. The world has entirely forgotten what the Oscars are like or, rather, what they like. In the summer everyone seemed convinced that totally atypical films like Star Trek (X), The Hangover and District 9 were Best Picture likely. The new 'Best Pic Nominee To Be' is This Is It, the Michael Jackson documentary. [I've tried not to mention this article for well over 48ish hours but I've finally caved because it's been haunting my thoughts ever since. Share in the daymares with me!] That prediction comes despite the fact that Michael Jackson has never even been so much as a songwriting Oscar nominee and no documentary has ever performed that trick. In fact, I'm not sure you'd even be able to find a documentary that has managed more than 2 nominations -- on extremely rare occasions they'll cross over into the song field (An Inconvenient Truth) or maybe editing (Hoop Dreams). Unless Elizabeth Taylor gets 1000 ballots, I don't see this happening for Best Picture.

On a less provocative note, I told ya so on the animated nominees. I knew there'd be five. There's always more contenders than we're aware of... and it's always from the foreign cartoons as I've been saying all year. Why does no one listen to me? I need a new publicist. I'm smart about these things*.

*most of the time at least. if i'm wrong about any of those four pictures above... I will definitely say my mea culpas in February.
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Halfway House: Oh Suzanne-ah

Halfway through the day we freeze a movie halfway through. What do we see?

Doris Mann: Have you known Suzanne long?
Jack Faulkner: Ah, lets see. we've known each other about a month. It seems like longer, though.
Doris: Oh, I know what you mean. I'm her mother and it seems like longer.

Fifty minutes into Postcards From the Edge (1990), Jack (Dennis Quaid) has dropped by to pick up Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) for a date. Her mother (Shirley Maclaine) intercepts the man with the bedroom eyes ('and the living room nose and the kitchen forehead'). The performers are deliciously insynch with Carrie Fisher's rapid fire witticisms.

One of the reasons people get so invested in the Oscars is the joy that comes from arguing about whether or not the octogenarian institution got it right in any given year / category. When it comes to Postcards From the Edge, they got it very very wrong. It's one of the best movies about movies ever and it only received two nominations. Even Fisher's adapted screenplay, superior to some of the actual nominees, was snubbed. Dennis Quaid and Gene Hackman were both doing sly work here as Suzanne's player boyfriend and sympathetic director, respectively. But both actors didn't break a sweat in roles that wouldn't really be Oscar's thing even in the best of circumstances.

But then there's Shirley "It twirled up!" Maclaine. Hollywood usually loves it when Hollywood celebrates or satirizes itself as you can see in acting nominations like Dustin Hoffman's in Wag the Dog, Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain or Michael Lerner's for Barton Fink (among many others). But Shirley, who is a complete knockout as Debbie Reynolds substitute Doris Mann whether she's singing, cracking jokes, or winking for our sympathy, was bizarrely snubbed.

I'll never figure that one out.

I notice something new in the performances each time I see Postcards but the last time I popped it in the player I was totally amazed that I'd never caught this non-acting related detail (pictured below)


When Gene Hackman yells "Cut. Print." at the end of Meryl Streep's Oscar nominated "I'm Checking Out" musical number, the clapboard is not for the fictional film they're shooting but for the actual film we're watching (Postcards from the Edge) with its actual director Mike Nichols and cinematographer (the great, still unOscared Michael Ballhaus). How fun.

If you don't love Postcards don't tell me cuz I don't want to know. But if you do, tell us your favorite bit in the comments.
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Prince Gyllenhaal

One of the things I've never quite understood about videogames turned movies is how you're supposed to play them.

But I miss Jake Gyllenhaal so here he is all acrobatic like in The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

More Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Info

I haven't yet read any internet opinions about this new trailer, so haven't a clue what the consensus is but if it's hugely negative, I'm here to say that that's just silly. This looks exactly like the other video games turned movies (Tomb Raider) or movies that seem like they're based on video games even when they're not (The Mummy... or wait, was that?). They're all marketed in this same bombastic way with loud music, "fun" bits and CGI heavy promises of spectacle. Though I can't remember offhand if most trailers for films of this genre spend this much time describing the plot (which I feel safe in assuming will turn out to be unneccesarily complicated and utterly inconsequential to whether or not the movie works)

I'm feeling weirdly defensive in advance... even though I don't think it looks very good.

Would you rather be buried in sand... or internet ridicule?

Most of what I read on the internet these days seems to have a touch of the anti-Gyllenhaal to it (be it involving Maggie or Jake) and I don't want to see another repeat of that weird collective sudden loathing that happened to Kirsten Dunst a few years back. I hate it when that happens. There's usually little in the way of real or defensible reasons why people turn against actors that vehemently. I find that it's often based on perceptions of their public persona rather than their work and/or it's about one movie which the actor in question wasn't suited for in some way. Then people get weirdly resistant to believing that the actor will be enjoyable in another context. Not liking Maggie Gyllenhaal because she was annoying in The Dark Knight, for example, is utterly self-defeating. You would end up depriving yourself of abundant fantastic performances. Anyway, it comes down to this: I am an unrepentant Gyllenhaalic. I've never cared whether actors are "in" or "out" only whether they have talent and whether they do things for me onscreen when I'm sitting in the dark watching them. Jake often does. So, for better or worse, I'll end up seeing this next summer.

Mother and Child No Longer Up For Adoption

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they've picked up the TIFF hit Mother and Child starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Samuel L Jackson and Kerry Washington. The Rodrigo García adoption drama prompted more than one pundit to declare that The Bening would most definitely be back in the Best Actress Oscar race. But the press release makes no promises about when SPC would be showing off their new bundle to the public.

<--- Her Hotness Kerry Washington and Shady Naomi Watts work it out in San Sebastian, promoting Mother and Child

Sadly we'll have to assume it's not for another year (sigh... All these movies completed and placed on shelves). After all, SPC is already octomom of the Oscars for 2009. So very fertile they are. Eldest children include: An Education, Moon and Coco Before Chanel. But there's a whole litter about to drop (and now I promise I'll quit with this pregnant metaphor): The White Ribbon, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Broken Embraces and The Last Station.

A few readers have noticed the absence of "The Bening" from the blog this year. I have no idea why she hasn't piped in or what's going on with her. Maybe her stage work has been keeping her busy but she hasn't been on the red carpet as much as usual and she wasn't on the festival ride with Mother and Child either. Kerry, Naomi and Samuel did starpower duty in San Sebastian and Toronto but there's nothing quite like having Hollywood royalty at big premieres. Mr. Beatty and The Bening were missed. At least by obsessives like me.

In fact, one of the most recent non-set photos I could find of Annette on Zimbio was 12 whole months ago for a stage reading of All About Eve. But, old photo or no, I LOVE it.


Intentionally or not, she's totally replaying her bitchtastic Being Julia climax, blocking co-star Keri Russell's limelight with a swirl of her extra fabric. Hee. I love The Bening so muchly but every once in awhile I need these reminders. Can't wait to see her back in action... whenever that may be.
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Posters To Drool On

I can't remember where I read about these amazing posters by Brandon Schaefer -- shame, because I hate not giving credit where it's due -- but I keep clicking back to them. I would love for movie marketing to be graphically enticing like this since the bulk of what's out there is poorly photoshopped floating celebrity heads. But at least we get brilliant poster imaging from adventurous repertory houses, museums and libraries and the like. Some of these posters at Seek and Speak are breathtakingly designed and smartly capitalize on either the title or a memorable image/theme from the film.

Here's a few I loved for The Blair Witch Project, The Dark Knight and Planet of the Apes.


Beautiful, yes? You can see more including clever takes on 8 1/2, Rear Window, Alien and other classic gems or modern hits here.
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MM@M: A Place in the What?

It's been a month since I did one of these Mad Men posts and I'm still on the first season. I mean that only in the sense of these posts. I'm right up to date on the actual Mad Men show, which wraps Season 3 up next weekend. I hate to see it go but at least I'll catch up on the blog with the movie references. (Find the silver lining!)

1.11 "Indian Summer"
Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff) has confessed to her sister Barbara (Rebecca Creskoff) that she's seeing Don Draper, a married man. Her sister is understandably concerned...

Barbara: All I know is what I see in the movies. It's magical and then they start talking about him leaving his wife... and then he doesn't. I saw this one where the husband gets the woman pregnant so he kills her.

You don't want to be that woman.

Hmmm. Help me out here, readers.

It sounds like Barbara is thinking of A Place in the Sun... (?) only that's not exactly how it goes, Monty not being married to Liz when Shelley gets a bun in the oven. But then again people do get plots mixed up. Are there other 50s or early 6os movies where the two-timer kills his pregnant significant other? Your vast movie expertise is required in the comments.

other references in this episode
Literature: Ayn Rand Politics: Richard Nixon Celebrities: Jayne Mansfield Television: The Danny Thomas Show Magazines: The Family Circle
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F&L: He's Got Character

first image after the opening credits:


last line in the movie

man with mock frustration: It's locked. It's locked! Uh...
woman who is about to get some: [giggles]
man: Thank god I have the key.

Can you name the movie? Highlight for a clue if you need it: The comic actor who stars in and wrote this movie has never been nominated for an Oscar for his acting... even when he won important critics awards for a movie three years before this romantic comedy.


Still stumped? Highlight for the answer: ROXANNE (1987) with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah
for all first and last puzzles, click the label below

Can You Feel The Link Tonight? (It is where we are)

Disney Madness
Antagony & Ecstasy a great piece on Disney's ever charming Dumbo (1942)
<--- Sociological Images considers the social messaging of the princes and princess of Disney. Deflating but a smart/funny overview.
Disney Blog interviews the supervising animator on The Princess and the Frog (audio)

News
Toronto Star a second sequel to The Blair Witch Project? Er...
Coming Soon I missed this news in the crush of Halloween stuffage but Anthony Hopkins will play Odin in Thor. The way Hollywood casts you know it was either going to be him or Liam Neeson (they're the only two who do mythic father figures now, right?).
Slash Films Gattaca to spawn TV series? Hmmm, that could actually be good... as long as its psychologically / politically focused a la Battlestar Galactica

Oscar & Miscellania
StinkyLulu and gang discuss Oscar's Supporting Actress Nominees of 1956. Dorothy Malone won the Oscar. Will she win the "Smackdown"?
In Contention more best original song drama. That music branch is as looney as the makeup branch, if you ask me
David Bordwell "Between you, me, and the bedpost" on phallic symbols in the movies
USA Today people are still upset about the 10-wide best picture field. Interesting comments from Academy member's themselves.
Butt Magazine fun photo shoot with Rossy de Palma (of Almodovarian fame). Yes! [thx]

Christopher "Gaga" Walken

LOL. I almost love Christopher Walken's extracurrical work (this, the classic "Weapon of Choice" video, Madonna's "Bad Girl" etcetera) more than his actual filmography. [thx]

And a little earlier, Jude Law [thanks Michael & Arlo!]



Now who's up for a dramatic reading of "Paparazzi"?
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The Oscar Race Begins on November 6th

That's just 5 days away. That's the (un)official start date. I'm declaring it. It used to be the NBR's announcement of their top ten list but with more and more awards groups clamoring to yell "first!", "first!" has lost virtually all its meaning. Or rather, it's meaning has changed. It now means "We're desperate for attention!" ...though maybe it always did. So, Nov. 6th is the day...


...since that's when a lot of folks will get their first look at Precious ["for you consideration..." in virtually every category save Best Actor and Supporting Actor. No, Lenny Kravitz's male nurse doesn't count]. That's when that particularly buzzy contenduh goes from being a movie with deafening hype and buzz (huzz? bype? hypzz?) to being a real thing, a movie audiences can react to in a less abstract, more honest and less controllable-by-campaign-and-hype way. As it should be.

[tangent] I always find it strange when people call me an elitist (I assume because I generally prefer unravelling female protagonists to superpowered men in costumes?) because I'm actually populist at heart. I demand that cinema of all types readily available to the masses! The Oscars are frustrating in this way because the type of films that matter to the Academy -- and to drama nuts like you (I assume if you're reading TFE) -- are ever more skittish about being seen, hiding in tiny little theaters in only the biggest cities, as if too many curious eyeballs would ruin their strenuous beauty.

If it were up to me you'd have to open by Christmas at the absolute latest in the top six to eight markets (something like that -- thus making you an actual release in the year in which you're asking for statues and top ten lists) instead of just Los Angeles by the 31st for a one week run on one screen. (I fail to see how such tiny in-name-only "releases" within a calendar year are any different in practice than festival showings which do not make you eligible). [/tangent]

On a smaller scale November 6th is when Best Actor contender Hal Holbrook emerges with the senior-wants-his-farm-back drama That Evening Sun. This promising debut feature from writer/director Scott Teems has other fine performances (particularly Ray McKinnon as Holbrook's nemesis) but none of the other actors have anything in the way of an Oscar-ready profile. But after the year Carrie Preston has had -- dropping some humanity into the arch Duplicity, reliably entertaining us as Arlene on True Blood and this affecting portrait of a wife who loves her husband but isn't blind to his flaws -- we should all be new fans.

Yes, from November 6th onward each and every weekend brings us new Oscar contenders of one type or another.

• Nov 6th: Precious, That Evening Sun, A Christmas Carol
• Nov 13th: Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Messenger
• Nov 20th: Broken Embraces, The Blind Side (?), The Twilight Sa (oh, I'm kidding)
• Nov 27th: The Road (wide. Holiday appropriate! er....) and a bunch of limited releases: Me and Orson Welles, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The Princess and the Frog. I have to say I think it was a H-U-G-E mistake for Nine to leave November... even more enormous than I had originally thought. You see, not one major Oscar contender is going to be wide for the entire Thanksgiving period. Unless you count The Road. Not even Precious (which will be expanding in November but not wide until sometime in December). It's like the Weinstein Company is just setting fire to money. They'd have had zero competition. Plus, November is actually from the latin word "novem" which means NINE. Hello... can't the Weinsteins respect the Gregorian calendar!?

• Dec 4th: Brothers, Up in the Air, Everybody's Fine (?)
• Dec 11th: A Single Man, Invictus and The Lovely Bones which is only in limited release till January. Like Nine, it's another Oscar hopeful with mainstream appeal. Plus it's from a hugely successful director (Peter Jackson). It seems like they're just putting money in the trash compactor. Why don't they want those holiday dollars? Are they worried about the movie's bankability?
  
• Dec 18th: Avatar (wide), Nine, The Young Victoria
• Christmas: Sherlock Holmes, It's Complicated (wide releases... Globe contenders?), Police Adjective (Romania's foreign film contender). Nine and Up in the Air, two presumed Oscar giants, also quit hiding and open wide.
  
• Dec 30th: The White Ribbon (More than most filmmakers, Michael Haneke pieces require time to shift and settle and unsettle again in the mind of the viewer. So why they keep sticking him with these maddeningly busy release dates -- Christmas or New Years -- is beyond me. Seems like such a missed opportunity for what his films always need: discussions with room to breathe. Caché in particular was gaining steam -- his films build the further you get away from them -- so had it been released even just a few weeks earlier (sigh) maybe it would have won a Screenplay or Director nod? Or at least more precursor honors. Instead it t'was crushed in the glut. We'll see the same thing happen again this time.
  

So longwinded today.

My point is simply this: Here we go! (Are you excited yet?)
This was all a lengthy awkward way of saying that Oscar Predictions in All Categories are all up to date and I'm more than ready for these movies. Discuss.
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Screen Queens: Another Country

Hey, MattCanada here with this weeks queer cinema post. I finally got around to watching Another Country. It was not what I expected at all and this did affect how much I liked the film. My expectations going into the movie were of a spy thriller with a hefty dose of gay sex, not PG fondling. What I was confronted with was a drama which explores the British class system through the study of Guy Bennett's (fictionalised Guy Burgess) disenfranchisement from his class because of his homosexuality at an unnamed Boys Public School (read: super posh). The film is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and intelligently written - a Merchant Ivory film in everything but name.

Rupert Everett in his star-making role (first on stage, then on screen)

The lead actors are all strong, especially Rupert Everett's flamboyant toff Guy Bennett. Everett does not overplay him which is a surprise given the actor's subsequent career. For Bennett he finds the perfect balance of class and performative gayness. Though the routines and affected speech of all the schoolboys would have to be classified as dandy-ish, Everett's pushes Bennett to be a little more excessive. There are times, during the cricket games and the military role calls, where his flamboyance will not be contained by the masculine structures of the ceremony, and this is what is eventually so reviled by the prefects. That is to say, it is his indiscretion and public acknowledgement/celebration of his homosexuality which is contemptible, not the actual act of having sex with men. Most of the other boys engage with other men sexually in lieu of female company, but it is not talked about, made public, or acknowledged as enjoyable. Also great are Colin Firth (in his screen debut) as the idealistic Marxist Tommy Judd who veers between petulant and intrepid, and the fascistic Fowler played brilliantly by Tristan Oliver.

Cary Elwes in his film debut (unless you count a bit as "disco dancer")

The look of the film is beautiful, and I'm not just talking about the male leads (although Cary Elwes might be prettier here than the Art Direction). The boarding school, which has many similarities to Eton, is a perfect expression of the other country in which the privileged live. The lush cinematography (Peter Biziou was honored for this work at Cannes) and meticulate costume and set design construct a world that is totally foreign to the vast majority of spectators, and allows the audience to understand how Guy's alienation from this privilege, because of his homosexuality, is enough to turn him towards espionage and treason. When Judd says: "All problems solved, no commies and no queers", he is circumscribing what is unacceptable and what blocks these men from attaining the power they were born to posses, and expresses how alienation and oppression made them bedfellows.

Colin Firth (in his film debut) as "Judd" and Rupert Everett as "Bennett"

[photo src] Everett & Kenneth Branagh in the West End production, 82.
Guess who played the roles in 83? Daniel Day-Lewis (!) and Colin Firth

The script, adapted by Julian Mitchell from his own Laurence Olivier Award-winning play, is nuanced, intelligent, witty and provides a great closing line (featured in F&L a few weeks ago).

Despite everything positive I have to say about the film, and what a fine achievement I think Another Country is, I didn't love it. Maybe I did just want a sex filled spy thriller with double crosses. I'll have to watch it again to really appreciate all the complexities of the script, and beauty of the mise-en-scene. For now I will recommend it, but caution people against expecting a 1930s gay Bond.

Does it make me a bad movie lover for wanting a bit more sex, and some Ian Fleming-style intrigue?


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