She's "Mad" at "Hel" And She's Not Going to Streep It Anymore!

"Streep @ 60" continues...

Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn were 43 and 46 respectively when they made the summer promotional rounds in support of Death Becomes Her in 1992. The satirical comedy focuses on the hostile friendship between two desperate aging women, Helen (Hawn) a writer, and Madeline Ashton (Streep) a famous actress. In the early nineties, the 40s were still considered 'The End' for actresses, so the casting and topic made sense.

To give you a sense of how bad it was, magazines were already taking shots at Michelle Pfeiffer (!) who was all of 34. "She's not getting any younger," one article stated with unnecessary hysteria, whilst discussing Pfeiffer's post-Catwoman career prospects. Things have improved enough since 1992 that were they ever to remake Death Becomes Her, one imagines they might think of casting 50somethings.

Recurring verbal joke: Their nicknames for each other
"Mad" & "Hel" betray not-so-friendly true feelings

Premiere's headline called this Meryl & Goldie's "Golden Age" and a TV profile/joint interview (I wish I could remember which show) suggested that this was a smart pairing. The angle was something along the lines of 'If only Meryl could get some of Goldie's box office and Goldie some of Meryl's respect!' The irony of this was that Goldie was already an Oscar winner but her box office was about to fall off precipitously (she only had one more hit in her, The First Wives Club) and Streep wasn't ever truly box office poison (she had had huge hits in the 70s and 80s and would have them again in the 00s). But the ungenerous perception in many quarters was that Streep's appeal was waning and that her sudden lunge toward comedy was desperation.

This perception was both true and untrue. The way things shook out in the nineties, her 40s (aka the 1990s) did turn out to be her most fallow and least popular period. The move toward comedy, however, so suspiciously received in the beginning, ended up making her more popular than ever. It just took another decade for audiences to rally around New Meryl.

What do I see? That's the question I'm most afraid of.
One that asks me what I'm really... made of.

One of the most endearing things about Death Becomes Her from a retrospective vantage is the way it follows so closely on the heels of Postcards From the Edge, forming a prismatic, self-mocking double feature. The subject is an aging actress in career crisis, one who just happens to have an absurdly amazing singing voice; Postcards ends with a big gorgeous musical performance as career redemption and Death begins with its inversion, a big gawdy one as career killer. So this early 90s double offered audiences two potential futures for fictional "Meryl Streep." Or the same future, if you could predict the coming of Mamma Mia! -- it would look exactly like a huge gawdy career killer but be a mammoth hit in actuality!

Further pushing this Meryl on "Meryl" dialetic to the forefront is that Death also seems to confirm, revel in and foretell critical complaints about Streep as Overrated Queen of the Hams. There's nothing within the script or Streep's performance in Postcards to suggest that "Suzanne Vale" is anything other than a mediocre screen talent and Death's "Madeline Ashton" is, quite demonstrably, a bad actress.

Meryl doesn't go for subtlety this time, which is an absolutely wise choice. Death Becomes Her needs both broads to be broad. Subtlety wouldn't work in a film that spends its first two reels speeding through 14 years (!) of boyfriend-stealing, dated Broadway flops, fatsuit gags, faux movie clips, career changes of fortune, plastic surgery addictions, marital misery and revenge fantasies. But broad doesn't have to equal bad. If anything, Death Becomes Her is pinpoint sharp about how big to go, and I'm not talking about Goldie Hawn's fatsuit.


Goldie clearly relishes her spurned woman gone nutso role, but the biggest and wisest laughs in the early scenes aren't coming from Goldie XXL but from the massive size of Madeline: her ego, her stardom, the space she takes up in Helen's brain. The mere mention of her name sends people into hysterics [see photo above], which is a super funny subtextual joke about stardom underneath the actual joke about Helen's patience-testing obsession with her frenemy.

And if you're going to be making jokes about an actress taking up way too much mental real estate, isn't Meryl, The Greatest Living Actress™, the ideal butt of that joke?

"She's a woman, Ernest... a woman from Newark for goddsakes"
(Yes, both Madeline & Meryl are Jersey girls)

It's easy to imagine half of Hollywood's actresses relating to Helen's envy, and all of them, including Streep herself, howling at Madeline's comeuppance. Streep's supersize talent and endless good fortune in a cruel business that isn't half as kind to her talented peers would be insufferable if she didn't enjoy a good ribbing now and then.

For such a plotty movie -- there's a ton more to come involving magical age-defying potions, secret societies, violent revenge and living death (hence the title) -- Death is remarkably brisk in pacing and never loses sight of what makes it special: the witty screenplay and the Meryl & Goldie hamming. Not that the supporting cast isn't helping. Isabella Rossellini is a sexy hoot as seductive testy Lisle and Bruce Willis is fun, too, as plastic surgeon turned undertaker Ernest. He matches the heightened style of his co-stars but dorkifies it considerably as the flaccid man that both of them want... possibly only because the other does. One of my favorite bits is Meryl's trip to the hospital where she inadvertently turns the doctor (her Out of Africa director Sydney Pollack) into a patient himself.

<--- I think she needs to see a doctor.

Death rarely gets bogged down in attempting to glorify its (Oscar winning) visual effects, which is a common problem in lesser genre efforts. Zemeckis knows that for all the "wow!" appeal of the grotesquely imagined injuries including holes in bodies, protruding bones and heads facing in the entirely wrong direction -- "I can see my ass!" -- nothing is as super as watching talented funny actors having a laugh. He even finds great use of Meryl's twitchy hands, a common and sometimes distracting Streepism, which considerably add to the laughs when Madeline can't wrap her head around what's happening to her suddenly backward body. Zemeckis gives Hawn and Streep plenty of closeup attention for their well delivered zingers but he smartly uses a variety of shots for comedic effect. The use of focus-pulling and of long shots in particular really add to the visual panache of the film.

If Death Becomes Her overstays its welcome a tiny bit with those final frantic chase antics in Lisle's castle, it saves itself with great visual choices such as framing Mad & Hel like leaning gargoyles atop Lisle's magical castle, there to tempt and torment Ernest one last time. And the punchline is deliciously dark, with Mad & Hel's laughter preceding their "uh oh" realization of an eternity in each other's company. Misery loves company. Cut to: "37 Years Later", an epilogue to drive this punchline home.

While it's possible to view Death Becomes Her's central catfight and 'woman thou art vain!' characterizations as misogynistic actress-bashing from the land of the same (Hollywood!), it's hard to object when the film is this much fun, exhibits such love for its evil women, and the actors are so gleefully selling bad behavior.


Now a warning.
................"NOW a warning?"

You can fight aging through means both natural and un, but the ravages of time will get you in the end. Even if, like Madeline, you're rich enough to buy magic potion or talented enough, like Meryl, to stay vital in the cinema for decades on end.

See, offscreen as well as on, Streep got older. We all do. But you have to hand it to her. What seemed like folly to some at the time -- four consecutive and often silly comedies after her coronation as the world's preeminent dramatic force -- was actually a savvy forward motion move. She fought an aging career, not by underlining her dominance (Lord knows she probably had plentiful Oscar bait scripts to choose from in that four year period), but by stretching her instrument, experimenting with new genres and poking fun at herself. Laughing may cause crow's feet and smile lines, but it sure keeps you young at heart.

Streep at 60 thus far
Act 1 "Liberated Lady" Oscar Races: 1978, 1979
Act 2 "Chameleonidae Erotica" Oscar Races: 1981, 1982-1983, 1985, 1987-1988
Act 3 "Funny Lady" Oscar Races: 1990

Birthday Suits, That Girl Those Girls

1694 Voltaire, Enlightment philosopher, writer, progressive. Candide is his work that's most familiar to modern audiences having been filmed, adapted, and put on lists like this one as well as being adapted into a popular and oft-revived comic operetta. Kristin Chenoweth doing "Glitter and Be Gay" is theater heaven.
1912 Eleanor Powell, queen of tap. Broadway Rhythm it's got me Everybody...



1938 Marlo Thomas, That Girl. Yes, that one.
1941 Juliet Mills, Globe nominated film actress (Avanti!) best known for TV roles. She was a cougar before they had a word for it, marrying hunky Maxwell Caulfield when she was 39 and he was 21, before he'd even made Grease 2. They're still married, going on thirty years now. Today's generation might know her best as witchy Tabitha from her long campy run on daytime soap Passions.
1943 Brigitte Broch, favored production designer of both Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Powder Keg, Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros). Oscar winner (Moulin Rouge!)
1944 Harold Ramis actor/writer/director/ghostbuster
1945 Goldie Hawn, giggler
1952 Lorna Luft daughter of high maintenance legend, half sister of high maintenance legend. 'my mother! my sister! my mother! my sister!' *slap*
1956 Cherry Jones theater giant, tv president, film cameoist (seriously... where are the bigger roles?) and right on awesome gay activist. Most famously, she's the original Sister Aloysius in Doubt. Check out how many big names she had to beat for her Tony statue below. Curiously both of her Tony Awards are for Oscar-loved film roles from two-time winners: Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (1949) and Meryl Streep in Doubt (2008).



1965 Björk, genius
1984 Jena Malone actress, Jake Gyllenhaal makeout partner. Currently onscreen riding Ben Foster in her birthday suit in The Messenger.

Red Carpet Lineup

a random sampling of actresses working red carpets this week


The Lovely Laura Linney has been absent from (big) screens this year. I kinda miss her, though having her at the Oscars last February was more than I could have asked for in a way so it's all good. Maybe The Other Man will get a real release next year? This getup makes Katharine Heigl look more matronly than her 30 year old self should look I think. She's not one to hold her tongue so do you suppose she has a few words for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists who recently gave her 27 Dresses their "Hall of Shame Award" for 2008? Speaking of weddings... is Goldie Hawn finally getting hitched after 25 years of...? No, it's just a white dress. All the same Jennifer Aniston is purposely not looking at her whilst putting on her "I'm so happy! I'm really so happy!" face in this imaginary red carpet lineup. You can't see her other hand but I have it on good authority that it was used to send a private yet easily decipheral signal to Joe Reid after this weekend's Podcast.

I think Christine Taylor should be in more movies. Sometimes I imagine Ben Stiller keeps her locked up in their mansion in Beverly Hills only letting her out for his film premieres or for cameos in his movies. I don't understand her career... or lack of. She can definitely deliver the chuckles --even in brief bits like the one she had in Kabluey. Sutton Foster is a rarity. She's a genuinely photogenic stage star who doesn't really dabble in TV or film. If you ever get the chance to see her perform: do so! Here's my two absolutely favorite Foster numbers: "Forget About the Boy" and "I Don't Wanna Show Off"



She's "Astonishing" to borrow the title of her show stopper in that Little Women musical a few years back. Lately she's only been doing big budget screen-to-stage transfers (Young Frankenstein in the Terri Garr role / Shrek in the Cameron Diaz role) which is a shame because she's an actual Broadway draw. These projects don't need stars to sell tickets. It seems like such a waste of her considerable gifts. Meanwhile Julianne Moore was seen on the red carpet looking defiantly and enigmatically wrapped in thought. Was she dreaming up new ways to abuse her screen children? (They have it so rough). Supposedly we'll see Julie in at least three new movies next year. It might be a great year for Moore maniacs if the roles are any good.

How I Feel / How I Wish I Felt

generously demonstrated by Goldie Hawn.
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Vanity Fair's Hollywood ~ Episode 5 (1999)

The Hollywood Historian in me continues his work after a long sabbatical ... Missed other episodes? See: 1995 , 1996, 1997, 1998 | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005

In 1999, Vanity Fair went both a little crazy (14 people? The most ever for a Hollywood cover) and a little blah (seriously now, zzz). This issue gets my vote for worst cover in their history of Hollywood editions. They called it "New Kids on the Block" as if they were trying to date it instantly. I called it "Call me in Spring 2000 when the next one comes out." None of them look like they're in the mood to due boy band choreography or even sing one bar of a power ballad.

Adrien Brody, Thandie Newton, Monica Potter, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Stiles,
Leelee Sobieski, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Polley, Norman Reedus, Anna Friel,
Omar Epps, Kate Hudson, Vinessa Shaw, and Barry Pepper.

Adrien Brody, newly 26 years-old, had just come off of an extremely disappointing role downsizing in Best Picture nominee The Thin Red Line (see fascinating time capsule interview from several years back) --originally touted as the lead he was barely in the film by the time notoriously slow filmmaker Terence Malick was through with it. He had not yet been cast in The Pianist which would prove his rather massive critical / awards / Halle Berry kissing breakthrough. He was on the cover, as they often are because he was busy... already popular with casting directors with 5 performances emerging between 99 & 00 (his stripper in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and his union organizer in Bread and Roses chief among them).

Thandie Newton was also 26. 1998 had been a big year with both Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged and Jonathan Demme's Beloved haunted by her beauty. All was not rosy thereafter. She snagged the female lead of Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) but it did as little for her as the previous film had done for Emmanuelle Béart stateside. Interest was renewed with her memorable supporting part in Crash (2005) and buzz has it that we'll next see her as Condoleeza Rice in Oliver Stone's Bush bio W. (2009).

Monica Potter, about to turn 28, was one of many actresses who were weighted down with "next Julia Roberts" buzz. Believe me, it was a plague that decimated the female 20somethings of Hollywood that entire decade. She had been in two hits Patch Adams and Con Air and would be in a couple more (the already forgotten Along Came a Spider, 2001 and the unfortunately remembered franchise-spawning Saw, 2004) Her last big gig was a stint on TV's Boston Legal.

Reese Witherspoon, all of 23, was still an up and comer and she was about to marry Ryan Phillipe, whom she had been dating since '97. Hopes for her career had stayed high mostly due to her impressive and soulful debut in The Man in the Moon (1991) but none of her films had been hits. That wouldn't change in 1999 (though Cruel Intentions nearly did it) because Election, the film that announced her formidable talent with the subtlety of a megaphone, also flopped in theaters (though it's better remembered than most of the smashes of that year... quality does sometimes win out in the end. It just takes a long time --Tortoise and Hare, you know). Two years after this cover, Legally Blonde would open and she'd join Hollywood's A list to become the biggest star to emerge from this cover's gelatinous mass of wannabees ---seriously. There's way too many people on this cover.

Julia Stiles, newly legal at 18, probably won this cover treatment on the basis of the just-then opening lead role in 10 Things I Hate About You (co-starring the late Heath Ledger). She worked a lot in the years that followed in films both successful and otherwise but her career didn't grow as much as people expected or she herself expected for that matter (that's my presumption from some interviews at least). Today people are still familiar and she is pretty terrific in that tiny role in the Bourne series.

Leelee Sobieski, also known as 'Helen Hunt Jr' among my crowd at the time, was a critical darling turning 16... a status I never understood how she achieved so quickly. Never could I understand her appeal but she worked steadily from her debut in the Tim Allen comedy Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) through the blockbuster Deep Impact to Kubrick's controversial Eyes Wide Shut and the horror thriller Joy Ride (2001). She's never stopped working but the press definitely stopped paying attention, ignoring her from about 2002 onward just as suddenly as they'd once inexplicably decided to dote on her. She's in the new Al Pacino thriller 88 Minutes which is about to open.

Giovanni Ribisi, from the twitchy school of acting that also spawned Jeremy Davies was 24. He had already worked a lot in indies with his biggest claim to fame being part of Saving Private Ryan's young soldier ensemble the summer before this cover was shot. He had eight projects open between this cover and the end of 2000. Presumably he slept some time in 2002 or thereabouts because every year brings several films. His career has been cooling off considerably but he's part of the next buzzy Michael Mann picture Public Enemies so his career might find its second wind next year.


Sarah Polley, 20 at the time, just had quite a year with an Oscar nomination for her first full feature behind the camera Away From Her. But we're talking 9 years ago, aren't we? Nine years back she was a critically celebrated actress with The Sweet Hereafter (1997) behind her for which many people thought she deserved an Oscar nomination. She had four movies coming out the year of this cover, the most famous of which would be Doug Liman's Go. Sarah hasn't totally given up acting (two movies coming next year) but expect more work behind the camera, too.


Norman Reedus at 30 was the oldest character on this cover. This former model was about to have a baby with longtime girlfriend Helena Christensen (they split up in 2003). He had made a few indies directly before this cover as well as the horror sci-fi flick Mimic (1997), which was his first picture. The heat was on with three more small films due in 99 but he never "broke out" as it were. He stayed mostly in indies with the occasional small role in bigger films dotting the filmography like Blade 2 and last year's American Gangster.

Anna Friel, about to turn 23, had up and comer buzz despite very little screen work. 1999 was an important year for her (see time capsule interview) as she was part of the quartet of players in Broadway's Closer (which became a film in 2004 --she played "Alice", later become Natalie Portman's role) and she was also in the ensemble in the umpteenth film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (this one with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer). Everybody forgot about her for awhile but she's more popular and adorable than ever, suddenly, as one fourth of Pushing Daisies central quartet of players. She's "dead girl" ...but you knew that already if you've been watching.

Omar Epps, nearly 26, had gotten his film start in the Harlem set drama Juice(1992) with Tupac Shakur and had been working steadily in both TV (ER) and film up until this cover. 1999 was a big year with three major roles (The Woods, In Too Deep, and The Mod Squad) and 2000 would be equally crowded but success was only moderate. Lead film roles dried up and he moved over to TV in 2004 as a regular cast member on the Emmy nominated House, M.D.

Kate Hudson , turning 20, had an Oscar-winning superstar mother (Goldie Hawn) but little else to recommend her for this cover. Major stardom of her own would arrive approximately a year and a half later when Almost Famous (2000) opened, for which she received an Oscar nomination and became a mainstream media staple. One romantic comedy blockbuster followed (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 2003) but, honestly, she gets a lot of attention for how little success her films have hand. And that filmography: yikes!

Vinessa Shaw, nearly 23, was known from her work as a teenager on television and in films like Hocus Pocus and Ladybugs. Nothing major but the Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut (pictured, right) was in post-production when this cover was shot and the buzz on her appearance/sex appeal in the mystery shrouded film was fairly loud. Not sure why a bigger career didn't materialize but you'll probably remember that she did a brief Russell Crowe snogging act in 3:10 to Yuma last year.

Barry Pepperwas turning 29 and the previous year's feature film landscape had suggested that he might be breaking free of television, where he had spent the first six years of his Hollywood career. In 1998 he had played a memorable sniper role in Saving Private Ryan and supported Will Smith and Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. A role in Best Picture nominee The Green Mile followed this very December and then he hit the brick wall that was the Scientology inspired Battlefied Earth(2000). The future didn't hold big successful lead roles after that but damn he was good in 25th Hour (2002), don't you think? Next up: supporting Will Smith again in Seven Pounds this Christmas.

Anna Friel ~ then and now

median age: approximately 24. Youngest: Leelee was still fifteen when the cover was shot. oldest: Norman Reedus @ thirty
collective Oscar nominations before this cover: Zilch
collective Oscar nominations after this cover: 4 (Reese, Adrian, Sarah and Kate), 2 of which led to big wins (Witherspoon in Walk the Line & Brody in The Pianist)
fame levels in 2008, according to famousr, from most to least: Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Julia Stiles, Adrien Brody, Omar Epps, Giovanni Ribisi, Thandie Newton, Leelee Sobieski, Sarah Polley, Barry Pepper, Monica Potter, Vinessa Shaw (Anna Friel and Norman Reedus are not listed on the website)
see also: 1995 ,1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
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don't miss future installments. Yes I will one day get through them all

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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It's ONJ Day

Today is the birthday of my childhood icon Olivia Newton-John. One of my dearest friends argues in utmost seriousness that Olivia's voice is what we'll hear the angels sing with in heaven. Who am I to argue? Maybe it's because she was the first celebrity I ever truly loved but she still sends me.

I really don't know why she isn't more celebrated these days --even if it would be in a shallow nostalgia way. At the very least she deserves her own theme night on American Idol given that far less famous singers have had them and her discography is loaded with #1 hits.

Since this is a film site here are five movie related goodies for you. Clockwise from top left for these first four: "Suspended in Time" from Xanadu (1980) one of my all time fav flicks and Olivia songs; "Take a Chance" with John Travolta (check out the hairspray'ed 80s 'dos) from their unfortunate attempt to rekindle the Grease magic with Two of a Kind (1983); "Those Summer Nights" with Travolta again from Grease (1978); and a comedic number with Gene Kelly from a TV special where they adapt "Makin' Whoopee" (yes, the song that makes us all think of my beloved) into "Makin' Movies"





And this schmaltz fest you just gotta take in... It's ONJ with Bette Midler, Meryl Streep, Cher and Goldie Hawn singing "What a Wonderful World". Put that many film divas (+ Olivia) in the same room and it sure is. The angels are already singing



AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THIS POST WAS OVER...
I'm also noticing on IMDB that Olivia is in talks to reprise her last film role for a television series. That'd be Bitsy Mae Harling an ex-con lesbian biker (I'm not making this up) from the strange, countrified, and intermittently funny Sordid Lives. The movie has developed a mini cult of sorts, due in large part to its fun cast which also includes Beth Grant, Bonnie Bedelia, Beau Bridges and Leslie Jordan

Unserved Demographic

I moved into my gorgeous apartment almost a year ago. I still get mail for the previous tenant. Some times strange things show up. Magazines aren't strange in and of themselves but they usually require subscriptions sooooo it doesn't make sense to get a magazine addressed to the previous tenant that you've never gotten before, 10 months after they've left.

The magazine that arrived today was the AARP Magazine. So either the previous tenant was getting up there in the years or the universe is trying to tell me that I'm no longer 20? [Hey, I knew that already. Go away.]

Movie culture is definitely not serving the senior demographic, obsessed as Hollywood is with video game adaptations and horror movies with tortured teens at the forefront, but this is a movie-focused issue I guess. Goldie Hawn is on the cover "Sexy, Sixty, and Speaking Out." And there's an article "5th Annual Best Movies For Grownups" So I figure since these few weeks are all about the countdown to Oscar, and most Academy members are in the AARP age range, let's hear what they have to say.

Their choices:
Best Movies for Grownups: Capote
Best Actor 50 and Over: Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale
Best Actress 50 and Over: Joan Plowright, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Ooh, a hidden diss to Judi Dench? whaddya think?
Best Director 50 and Over: Steven Spielberg, Munich
Best Screenwriter 50 and Over: McMurtry & Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Breakaway Accomplishment: David Strathairn, Good Night and Good Luck
I guess that's like "Breakthrough" but I'm always happy to see Strathairn recognized.
Best Documentary: Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room
Best Intergenerational Movie: Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
Best Comedy for Grownups: The Producers
Best Foreign Language Film: Ushpizin (Israel)
Best Grownup Love Story: The Family Stone (Craig T Nelson & Diane Keaton)
Best Movie Time Capsule: Cinderella Man
Best Movie For Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up: King Kong
[complete article]