Film Experience Blog

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

20 comments:

Anonymous said...: shoulda won the oscar!!!!!; 4:11 PM
Anonymous said...: 1996 a ru=ich best actress year how do you pick nat from these
diane keaton
madonna
winona ryder
emily watson
gena rowlands
frances mcdormand
meryl streep
glenn close
kristin scott thomas
heather matarrazzo
courtney love
nicole kidman
brenda blethyn
debbie reynolds
kate winslet
gwyneth paltrow; 4:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes! Mother fucking yes! YES!!!! (Jumps through roof) Bliss!!!!

“this is a dream is what I tell myself. A different life… and here I’m a different wife.”

Pure magic. I mean… the carnality of this scene… it achieves such a rapturous emotional intimacy.

It’s little moments like this that are why I so love the movies.; 4:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Is she asking, how many visitors did you have Nathaniel since last month?; 4:26 PM
Anonymous said...: I've Loved You So Long is a misfire, huh? C+ is where misfire territory begins. Not enough of a story, I take it? If a look quietly pained and stricken showcase serves as a film's main course, that's an instant red flag in my book. Not only does it wear out its welcome performance-wise, it tries my patience and doesn't really translate into cinema that challenges the viewer or the performer as far as I'm concerned.

Scott-Thomas just doesn't seem to have much luck for the type who instantly strikes me like she wants to steer clear of the absolute bottom tier films (go her?), whatever language they're in or budget they have. I've been ample witness - what do Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Life as a House, The English Patient, Mission: Impossible, Angels and Insects, Random Hearts, The Valet, etc. have in common? They fucking suck. Misfires.

Gosford Park isn't that bad, I....guess (talk about straining my brain for exceptions), but it's really not that good either. Distinctly minor, hushed, prim, kinda inexpressive Altman that nobody should care about when Short Cuts, The Player, M*A*S*H, or even Long Goodbye etc. exist. Two viewings later I can't even remember what Kristin did in it.; 4:32 PM
dead man/flowers said...: Gosford Park, in my opinion, is Altman's best film.; 4:47 PM
Anonymous said...: What kind of impact does its ensemble format make, what does it have to say about its milieu and in what capacity does it entertain that hasn't been trounced by greater Altman works?

Names of publicized note trot out annual best of lists that's spreading like wildfire these days online because several hundred films devoured their time, but compelling reasoning is kind of hard to come by.; 5:08 PM
James Colon said...: I still think Scott-Thomas's performance is the best of the year. I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG is a pretty masterful debut film, in my opinion.; 5:16 PM
Anonymous said...: I THINK SHE IS OUT FOR A NOMINATEION.; 5:42 PM
NATHANIEL R said...: KD... if all it would took to get Kristin into bed was my annual traffic uptic for awards season I could have had many years of bliss now.

i mean who would kick that woman out of bed. Ralph Fiennes was insane to mistreat her in ENGLISH PATIENT

anon
it's been too long since i've seen GOSFORD PARK for me to properly defend it but I think it's awesome. So funny and so blissfully "so what" about it's plot since it's really about its class divisions and its wit rather than some stupid whodunit. anyway... i love it.

as for I'VE LOVED YOU...

i thought the story was the problem yes... especially the reveal. Kristin was great, but then, when isn't she?; 5:46 PM
Murtada said...: love love love kst...enough said; 6:30 PM
The Pretentious Know it All said...: Does anyone else think that Binoche was lead and Scott Thomas was supporting in "The English Patient?" Just saying...
And anonymous...Thomas was fine. But shoulda won the Oscar? One of the few years the Academy actually got best actress right?

And to answer your question about when Kristin Scott Thomas wasn't great, I offer you four simple words Nathaniel.
"Life as a House."
No one escaped that movie unscathed.; 7:04 PM
NATHANIEL R said...: the know nothing aha but i was unscathed since I never saw it!; 7:29 PM
John T said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Bitter Moon, Angels and Insects and The English Patient rock the house.

I'll buy Scott-Thomas as the lead with Binoche as supporting. I'll buy them both lead, or both supporting, or flip them around. It's actually a film that supports that kind questioning configuration.; 10:01 PM
Janice said...: I thought that was a photo of Jane Seymour - and then thought, when did she ever do a film that Nathaniel would have actually liked, much less evoked "shoulda won Oscar" sentiments. *smacks forehead*; 11:12 AM
Anonymous said...: "The English Patient" was so great. I have to see that film again. Minghella's sudden passing is so sad.; 11:25 AM
Anonymous said...: both lead as both have exactly same screen time i once counted - sad yes but i believe in my mind kristin is supp but as fiennes is lead can undersatnd the category placing.; 2:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Gosford Park is by far Miss Scott Thomas’ best film to date, and along with The Player and Short Cuts, Altman’s most enduring work after his 1971-1978 period.

As for Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, it seemed to me a pretentious and self-conscious “art film” by a novelist turned filmmaker. Kristin Scott Thomas really is affecting, but all the claims about the “best performance of the decade” are philistines to say the least.

But there is more. The Best Actress race seems relatively crowded this year. Why exactly should a foreign language performance be included in the competition ? Marion Cotillard's dubious win last year (for another “best performance of all time”) wasn't enough ?

Meryl Streep is never nominated for a Cesar or a Goya. The recent trend of including foreign language performances at the Oscars is nothing but a vicious kind of imperialism at a time when Hollywood (and American) films make more money in Europe and elsewhere than in the States. Of course, for the Richard Roepers of the world, this is normal and nothing to worry about.; 2:46 PM
adam k. said...: English patient is basically a love story, with Fiennes and Scott-Thomas as the central couple. Or at least, that was how it was billed. Since he's the real lead, his love interest is considered the other lead. Other crucial characters are supporting. That's just how romantic epics work. I have no problem with it.

And I find it strange that offense was taken about oscar honoring foreign language performances... maybe the oscars are just trying to be global? And honor the BEST performance regardless of language? Wouldn't it be more imperialistic to exclude foreign performances? Or to give them their own little ghetto? The real imperialistic category, if there is one, is best foreign language film.

But again, at least they're trying to recognize non-American work. That's about the best we can hope for.; 5:08 PM