Off With Your Head!

Press play. It magically provides your soundtrack for this post.

Four hundred and twenty-three years ago this very day, Queen Elizabeth had the deed done.

Mary Queen of Scots' head would roll. Which in movie-land means that Cate Blanchett (at her most blustery) ordered Samantha Morton right out of her own movie, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Such a shame since that movie really needed another actress capable of going head-to-head (I apologize!) with the diva at its center.

Lords knows Abbie Cornish wasn't doing it. I'm so pleased that she rocked Bright Star, thoroughly redeeming herself after that early "what's the fuss?" stage.

Anyway, my point is this: I l o v e Samantha Morton. Don't you?

And I hate it when people I love or people I'm totally curious about are suddenly written out of the movie I'm watching. Has that ever happened to you?

You may be asking yourself "Why the hell is Nathaniel talking about decapitations?" and that's a perfectly sensible question. But you'd be thinking gory thoughts too if you'd just watch The Wolfman (more on that Thursday) which loves to separate heads from bodies. Ewww.

P.S. I want Karen O to score more movies. Awesomeness

P.P.S. Even though I realize now that Helena Bonham-Carter is playing the Red Queen rather than the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland I'm glad she screams "Off with her head". You shouldn't mess with the classics.

P.P.P.S. I apologize for bringing up Elizabeth: The Golden Age. So uncalled for!
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My Favorite Shot in The Messenger

When Samantha Morton appears in a movie, everything else goes a little blurry. Soon there's only that moon face and the enigma of the other. Is she the most mysterious actress working? Her performances aren't lacking in character detailing and yet she conveys, as few screen performers do, the impossibility of knowing someone fully.

FYC: Samantha Morton as "Olivia Pitterson"

The Messenger, the new war drama about the Army's Casualty Notification division, makes good use of her mysteries and those incongruously warm blue eyes. She plays a newly widowed army wife who fascinates returning soldier Ben Foster. I met the screenwriter Oren Moverman (Jesus's Son, I'm Not There) who makes his directorial debut here, at a screening of the film last month. I had to tell him how much I loved one particular shot of Morton (cinematography by Bobby Bukowski) filmed through a screen door, watching and being watched.

I'm always thankful for movies that make good use of their actors. Late in the film, Moverman even lets Morton and Foster play an entire scene in medium shot with no edits. Heaven! Naturally he got some push back on this -- he didn't tell me from whom -- but that doesn't surprise me. This rarely happens anymore since dramatic conversations are always being shot with ample coverage and constant over the shoulder closeups and back-and-forth cutting. We don't get to see actors acting together often enough in contemporary movies.

More? Another brief note on this movie and some on Fantastic Mr. Fox in my new article at Towleroad

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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.

The Messenger Messages

Tiny distributor Oscillope earned our goodwill less than a year ago by coaxing some theatrical life out of the largely unmarketable but worthy and delicate gem Wendy & Lucy. My how that film lingers. They've just released the poster for their latest release The Messenger. It's the directorial debut of Oren Moverman who previously crafted screenplays for must-see arthouse titles like Jesus Son and I'm Not There.

[photo src]

What message are you getting from The Messenger's poster? I think it's striking. The backwards flag in the title -- nice design element there -- leads me to believe this isn't a happy or blindly patriotic war movie. Yep, it's about an Iraq war vet (Ben Foster) assigned to the Casualty Notification service. I don't like to know any more about plots than that before I see a movie. I hope this doesn't sound callous but I hope Samantha Morton suffers like Job. (Great actors crying is the best!) The movie begins platforming in early November... supposedly with an awards run in mind.

What do you think of the quartet of actors?

If you ask me it breaks down like this: Samantha Morton can do no wrong, Ben Foster can do plenty of wrong but he can't do it without being highly watchable and that's meant as a compliment. The other two provoke less intense reactions from me. Jena Malone used to be more famous than her less talented doppelganger Kristen Stewart but the movies giveth and the movies taketh away, don't they? At least she got to make out with Jake Gyllenhaal when it looked like she was going places. As for Woody Harrelson... who let him out again. Doesn't it seem like he's in everything all of a sudden? Does he have a new agent or have we teleported back to the mid 90s?

TONY Award Nominations / Movie Connections

The Tony Award Nominations are upon us. As is my inconsistent tradition, I thought I'd share a little bit about a movies you can rent or think about to create an unfulfilling celluloid guilty-by-association approximation of the Broadway experience of the 2008/2009 season before the TONYs roll around on June 7th. Not everyone gets to New York to see the shows. And even if you live here, like me, you don't get to them in your financially challenged years. Tony Winners Cynthia Nixon (who seems to be everywhere lately, right?) and In the Height's man Lin-Manuel Miranda are announcing them live any minute now.

If you want a reminder of what's eligible which you can use to see who got snubbed check out this eligibility chart.

P L A Y R E V I V A L
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
This is the 2nd in August Wilson's famous 10 play decade by decade cycle of the African-American experience. The themes are identity and migration. There is sadly no great movie epic about The Great Migration (That's a missed opportunity A list writer/directors. Get on it!). The original production starred Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett so you can rent one movie from each. Only one (!?!) of Wilson's plays has been filmed: The Piano Lesson with Charles S Dutton and Alfre Woodard in the lead roles.

Mary Stuart
Imagine a whole movie about Samantha Morton's doomed Mary Stuart instead of Cate Blanchett's cousin-killing Elizabeth in The Golden Age. Although maybe you wouldn't like to think about the Golden Age right now or ever again. My apologies!

A sampling of actresses who've played Mary: Helen Hayes, Vanessa Redgrave, Samantha Morton and Janet McTeer. Scarlett Johansson was set to play her in an upcoming film but that seems to be off her schedule now.

Better yet, rent Vanessa Redgrave's Oscar nominated turn as Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) with Glenda Jackson as her rival. Oscar nominee Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds) is Mary of Scots in the Broadway revival. Further reading about Bess & Mary

The Norman Conquests
This comedic trilogy by Alan Ayckbourn was filmed in the 70s for television but it's not on DVD.

Waiting for Godot
This Beckett classic has been staged countless times and filmed a few times for television. It's so theatrical and abstract by nature (two men wait in vain on an empty country road. The end!) that it doesn't really invite the screen treatment. The current revival stars Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin. When I interviewed Bill Irwin (who shoulda been Oscar nominated for Rachel Getting Married) last year we talked about this a bit. I figured he could handle Nathan Lane what with all that sparring with Kathleen Turner already under his belt. I heartily recommend renting Beckett on Film in which interesting directors interpret Beckett's work. At the very least you'll get to see Julianne Moore doing Beckett's insanely great monologue piece Not I (see previous post)

M U S I C A L R E V I V A L
Guys and Dolls
The 1955 movie version starring Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons isn't really definitive since it's not particularly well loved and there are some singing issues. The current revival stars familiar actors from TV mostly (Oliver Platt, Lauren Graham and Craig Bierko). When they revived this musical comedy in London 4 years ago the Brits got two actors who fill me with glee: Ewan MacGregor and Jane Krakowski. No fair!

Hair
I LOVED this production (see previous post) but if you can't get to NYC to see it, you can always watch the 1979 Milos Forman film version.

Pal Joey
This got the film treatment back in 1957 with Frank Sinatra as star, so you'll want to rent that. Here's two videos to give you a slice of musical heaven this fine Tuesday morning...



Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. That combo is almost too beautiful to look at. Double mmmmm. Stockard Channing and 80s teen star turned ubiquitous Broadway player Martha Plimpton are the "mice" on Broadway.

West Side Story
I really want to see this rare revival of my favorite musical of all time. But I could always watch the movie a gazillionth time.

B E S T P L A Y
Dividing the Estate
This isn't a new play but this family drama from Horton Foote is having its first Broadway run, therefore eligible for "best play". Foote died just two months ago but in his long career he wrote many plays and screenplays, too (including that film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird which marked his first Oscar win). His most successful play-to-screen transfers happened in the 80s with the Oscar winners Tender Mercies and The Trip to Bountiful.



God of Carnage
A friend of mine has already seen this one three times. The play is about two sets of parents who meet to discuss an altercation between their childen. The civilized meeting goes haywire and everyone behaves very badly. The couples are film and tv regulars Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels and awards magnets James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden (yay! my love grows)

reasons to be pretty
This is the latest provocation from Neil Labute also from my alma mater BYU in which a boyfriend's offhanded comment about his girlfriend's beauty-deficiency gets back to her sparking much trouble in their social circle. Thematically this is supposed to close an unofficial trilogy which started with The Shape of Things (which was made into a film with its original cast intact: Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Fred Weller) and continued in Fat Pig. LaBute's film career started strong with the vicious In the Company of Men which introduced movie audiences to Aaron Eckhart (another BYU alum) but lately he's been sliding: Lakeview Terrace and Wicker Man? Really... that's what you got?

33 Variations
This is the play that brought Jane Fonda back to Broadway. It's a story of a mother and daughter relationship and also a story about a composer: it spans 200 years from contemporary New York to 19th century Austria... plays aren't as literal as movies, you know.

Fonda is a nominee for Best Actress. Why can't somebody give her another shot at a third Oscar? Streep shouldn't be the only one giving Katharine Hepburn a run for her 4 Oscar record.

<--- Here's a photo from Jane Fonda's blog of 92 year-old Oscar winning supporting actress superstar CELESTE HOLM (!) visiting her backstage. This photo makes me so happy.

B E S T M U S I C A L
Billy Elliott
You've already seen the movie but why not watch it again. I'm still confused about how it makes a stage musical. If everyone is singing and dancing what makes little Billy so special. He's no longer out of place which was sort of the whole emotional point. That said, reviews are strong so maybe they worked magic.

Oh and yes, this will easily be the Slumdog of TONY night. It's up for 15 prizes including a special 3-way nomination for Best Actor

Film to Stage: It takes three boys to fill Jamie Bell's talented shoes

Next to Normal
A family in crisis (the mother is bipolar)... sings. More than 30 original songs. Alice Ripley (Side Show) headlines.

Rock of Ages
This is a head banging musical comedy (lots of famous songs from 80s radio) which unfortunately continues the trend of putting American Idol stars in Broadway roles -- this time it's Constantine Maroulis. Since this is a send up I guess maybe This is Spinal Tap! could be a vaguely connected movie rental choice. Or, go see Anvil! The Story of Anvil in theaters. It's a goodie even if its comedy is less intentional.

Shrek the Musical
I am in the tiny .001 percentile of the population that finds the whole Shrek phenomenon completely overrated and disheartening. I still think it's embarrassing that the movie beat Monsters, Inc to the Oscar . This musical doesn't have a prayer of accomplishing a similar feat, thank goodness. Small comfort because I am tremendously annoyed that my beloved Sutton Foster keeps wasting her bankability and starpower playing roles in mammoth productions that don't need a star of her calibre to sell tickets and for which no one will remember her. If your name alone can generate press and sell tickets why not harness your power for good and support new composers and smaller shows?

Here she is yukking it up at Joe's Pub last year and on Rosie O'Donnell in 2002 when her star first exploded in Thoroughly Modern Millie


(sigh) I love her so. It's so weird to me that she's never made a movie though she has finally done a bit of TV (Flight of the Conchords)

That's it! Whew. I'll talk about the actors and actresses soon (in brief) Have you seen any of these productions? If not, what's the last Broadway or touring show you saw?

And the Best of British To You, Sir! (/Madam)

Dave from Victim of the Time here once more. It's St. George's Day here- the patron saint of England (and several other countries but who cares about them?)- and although usually all that patriotism makes me slightly ill I thought I'd be more cheerful for once and bring you good mostly-American people some examples of my country's film-making prowess. Although even though it's the English patron saint's day I'll still sticking the banner out to cover the other three countries of our country, because it's all very confusing and we haven't devolved yet. Only a matter of time, though, I hear. [/tangent]

Ten years ago, the BFI polled a whole bunch of people to determine what the best British films of the twentieth century were. Now- spoiler!- the winner was The Third Man. A fair enough choice, says I. You can't beat a bit of zither. But, since they did that, and happily it's ten years later, I've decided to be stunningly original and bring you some of the best of what we've had to offer in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In bite-size form, because you've already seen what happens when I start rambling.

Boy A. Plot description doesn't sell this one very well (I think someone's still holding it against me), but it features a superb Andrew Garfield, who I'm sure you'll all know in a few years time if you don't already (that's him to the left there), some wonderful cinematography and a screenplay that is really rather affecting.

Bright Young Things. A marvellous 1930s romp from the ever-dapper Stephen Fry, based on an Evelyn Waugh novel and with a superb Stephen Campbell Moore in the leading role. It's all generally very witty and slightly posh and a bit naughty and all very delightful until the war turns up and spoils it all, like it always does. Bloody war.

Ghosts. You might know documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield from his two Aileen Wuornos films, but his first foray into a narrative film is rather excellent as well; focusing on a tragedy involving illegal Chinese immigrants working in Britain and struggling to survive. Draining but a very powerful watch.

Hallam Foe. Or Mister Foe as you Yanks might know it. Someone's favourite Jamie Bell (above) is preoccupied by the memory of his dead mother, and when he sees someone who looks just like her... things get a bit creepy. All full of gritty Scottish grimness and disturbing plot turns, but fascinating and superbly crafted. (And also with Claire Forlani, who I never knew was British before this, did you? You probably did.)

The House of Mirth. Terence Davies is one of our best but most scarce auteurs, a bit like Terrence Malick really; this adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel is slow, deliberate but superbly affecting, with- see a theme here?- a stellar turn from the wonderful Gillian Anderson.

Hunger. I look at this list and it's rather full of depression. You'll be glad to know things don't change with this one; painstakingly in its depiction of Bobby Sands' hunger strike, this is hardly the most comfortable watch you'll ever have, but the viscerality twinned with director Steve McQueen's (not that one) painterly sensibilities is an impressive sight to behold. [see previous TFE posts]

London to Brighton. More fun and games here as an experienced prostitute and a teenager new on the job run away, all bloody and the like, from their pimp in London and go to Brighton (er, obviously) because something rather bad has happened and they'd quite like to stay alive, thanks. Paul Andrew Williams blew people away a few years ago with this dark, powerful thriller.

Morvern Callar. Samantha Morton gets fucked up in Ibiza. Lynne Ramsay's intimate style is key to unlocking this strange, beguiling and strangely beautiful piece of work.

This Is England. Skinheads are scary. This film about skinheads is also scary, but marvellously so; Shane Meadows' work is always imbued with a rather morbid sense of humour, and the electrifying sense of constant danger. Thomas Turgoose marks himself out as the young boy who joins a gang of skinheads, and experiences the joy of community and the dangers of growing up all at once.

Vera Drake. Obviously if you're an Oscar-watcher you won't need me to tell you how good Imelda Staunton is here as a 1950s housewife who does backstreet abortions, nor that Mike Leigh brings his usual keen improvisation eye to the period setting. You already knew that? Good. Bears repeating, though, doesn't it?

Blimey. We're a depressing bunch, aren't we? I think my flag has wilted.

Sex & The City: The Indie Version

SAMANTHA (Morton) and her cosmos.
.... I couldn't help but wonder: Who ever would play Carrie Bradshaw? Let your mind wander. Cast this imaginary indie version if you dare.
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Now Playing: Traffic Cops, Super Spies, Norwegian Writers

L I M I T E D
Expired ~Crazy talented Samantha Morton and slow burn Jason Patric play traffic cops in this indie romantic comedy of sorts. Morton confesses in the trailer:

I'm one of the most hated people in the world. Nobody likes me. People run from me like the plague, give me the finger, verbally abuse me...

Oh Samantha. This would all change if you stopped stealing your dead boyfriend's novel, murdering children, plotting against Cate Blanchett and rescuing Tom Cruise from certain doom. These are not socially acceptable practices. You bring it on yourself, Samantha!

Brick Lane ~This film got a warm reception with various British film awards bodies last year. It's about a beautiful Bangladeshi woman in a loveless arranged marriage who life is upended when she falls for the young Karim (Christopher Simpson, pictured left). Can you blame her?
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl ~In which Abigail Breslin continues to make bank from her Little Miss Sunshine breakthrough. Based on the popular doll and directed --as Nick reminds me -- by Patricia Rozema who is best known for her erotic lesbian sensibility (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, When Night is Falling). She's talented for sure but it's often such a mystery as to who gets what job in Hollyweird, right? This goes wide for the holiday weekend but the top markets get it today.

S T I L L * O U T * T H E R E * !
Have you seen that super Norwegian flick Reprise yet? It's now in the following markets: NY, PA, CT, MD, MA, WA, CA, NE and OR. You have less of an excuse to miss it. How many times do I gotta tell you to see it?

W I D E
Get Smart ~ In which über competent, beautiful, awesome Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) from CONTROL battles the forces of KAOS. Based on the TV series. P.S. I guess there's a character named "Maxwell Smart" in it, too.
The Love Guru ~ In which Mike Myers brings his wink wink nudge nudge to yet another sketch comedy premise that I assume will drag on for 110-125 minutes. That's how they do these days. I've been receiving daily messages about how offensive this movie is to Hindus and that we should all boycott and yada yada yada... and I have to say I'm very disappointed. See, that Eastern religion always seemed so safe and sane in comparison to all the other super easily offended big religions of the world. The Flick Filosopher, getting the same e-mails as I, explains the idiocy in full detail. Turns out everyone is crazy sensitive and just, well, c-r-a-z-y. The world is doomed...

...have a great weekend !
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Behold! Three of the Best Actresses in Hollywood

The picture may be old (Cannes, May 2008) but the sentiment is not.

We Can't Wait #1 Synecdoche New York

And so we come to the end of the 2008 "We Can't Wait" countdown. There's actually 2 more anticipatory posts to get you revved up about the new cinematic year but those are actor focused and they arrive next week (after we're done with the naked gold man). So let's wrap up this countdown with a group hug for MaryAnn of Flick Filosopher, Gabriel of Modern Fabulousity, Glenn of Stale Popcorn and Joe of Low Resolution who played in my little sandbox this week.

Our collective most awaited movie is... (drumroll)

Synecdoche, New York
Directed by Charlie Kauffman (directorial debut for the acclaimed screenwriter of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation)
Starring we'll get to that in a second
Brought to You By US Distributor TBA
Expected Release Date Unknown but it's in post-production

Nathaniel: Synecdoche New York is about a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who builds a life size replica of New York City inside a warehouse for a production. Say what? There's also this -- his trouble with women. Those women are ...Dianne Wiest, Hope Davis, Lynn Cohen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams , Catherine Keener and Emily Watson. Whew. And if the cast isn't enticing enough they're all in service to what sounds like another original oddity from the mind of the auteur-like screenwriter Charlie Kauffman.

So many reasons to love it on paper already. What more is there to say? I hope you'll find something...

MaryAnn: This movie was partly shot in my neighborhood in the Bronx. Part of the whole Bronx renaissance thing I was talking about before. But that's not why I can't wait to see it. I can't wait because no one consistently blows my mind like Charlie Kaufman does. And I don't get my mind blown anywhere near often enough.

Glenn: I'm intrigued and confused by this movie. I don't tend to get all excited for trailers, but I am for this one purely so we can see what on Earth Kaufman is doing? "life size replica of New York City"... say what? It is Kaufman after all so I'm sure it's even far less literal than I imagine it to be. I still can't wrap my head around it, which, in turn, is what makes me anticipate this movie so much. Plus, when you throw in a cast like that - I hope Kaufman becomes the first director in too long to properly utilise Dianne Weist - you have all the ingredients for the #1 most anticipated movie of 2008 (albeit not mine, but the group as a collective).

Can I just say how overjoyed I am that we showed a bit of spunk and personlity in our list?! USA Today did their top 16 and it's just summer/Christmas tentpole flicks such as Indiana Jones, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Narnia 2, Star Trek, The X-Files and The Mummy. I'm much more comfortable with my auteurs in action, epics in motion and all the other films we've discussed.

And thank you Nathaniel for doing the hard yards in organising this shindig. It's always great to discuss movies with people who are as equally passionate about them as I. Even if we disagree.

Joe: I agree with Glenn: we ARE awesome.

While I can't entirely ignore the nagging worry that an unbridled Kaufman could get in his own way (collaboration can be a good thing, and Spike Jonze can't be that busy on Where The Wild Things Are, can he? Okay, maybe he can.) That's a heck of a collection of women for ol' Phil Hoffman. Are we sure he's up for all that cardio?


I'm talking around the subject, because what else can we do? Glenn's right, until we see a trailer (and maybe not even then), we can't possibly presume to know what Charlie's up to. But if anyone in Hollywood has earned my complete and utter trust, it's Charlie Kaufman. Bring it on, however bizarre.

Gabriel: I'm obviously a sucker for PSH and Kaufmann (as anyone who sat next to me at Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind knows, right Nathaniel?), and of course being tangentially about the theater, Synecdoche New York plays directly into my wheelhouse.

But there's something rather splendid about the bevy of talented women here...in fact, I think it's their presence that makes me so excited in the first place. It's been so long since a great female-ensemble film has rocked my world...Evening was such a disappointment last year, and 2007 often seemed particularly oriented to the stories of men (No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Assassination of Jesse James, etc.). With Synecdoche and The Women and Sex & The City, I'm hoping 2008 does female actresses proud.

Nathaniel: The massive female cast is giving me tingles in special places. But I can't say that I'm thrilled that it's Hoffman that all these amazing women are orbiting. Married to Marisa Tomei in Before the Devil... you'd think that would be the tops. But now he's romantically linked to Catherine Keener (ex-wife), Samantha Morton (lover) and Michelle Williams (wife) ...all in one film! He must have sold his soul to the devil.

But I'll take Kauffman and all these women in a heartbeat. I think Kauffman writes great female characters (think of Miranda Otto in Human Nature, Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine, Keener & Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich, and Meryl Streep in Adaptation to cite several examples. I'm so excited for this. And you?

~finis~

We can't wait. But we have to. In most cases we'll be waiting till the fall when Hollywood finally lets their meaty films out. Which film are you salivating for that we didn't mention? And what would've been your numero uno?

<-- Sister Aloysius prays for your wicked soul if you haven't been reading the "we can't wait" countdown #1 Synecdoche, New York / #2 Burn After Reading / #3 Australia / #4 Milk / #5 Blindness / # 6 Doubt / #7 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button / #8 Revolutionary Road / #9 The Dark Knight / #10 Sex & The City: The Movie / #11 The Lovely Bones / #12 Wall-E / #13 Stop-Loss / #14 The Women / #15 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince / Introduction / Orphans
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Top Actress: What Are They Up To? (2 of 2)

One of the most successful projects from Film Experience history was the mid decade review of Actors and Actresses of the Aughts (2000-2005). The plan is to revisit in a few years for an official "best of decade" list. In the meantime let's check in with our top 10. When we looked at 20 thru 11 we were reminded that the film world moves quickly... it already looked out of date. This particular lineup (10-1) feels more contemporary. That's either a nod to their collective dominance as talented stars or their younger median age. It's probably both. Hollywood still isn't kind to 40something women.

How have these ten women managed their careers since the list was published in the fall of 2005?

10-6

Toni Collette
"always makes the most of her material, even in thankless roles"
Age: 34
Toni has kept up a remarkable work pace for a long time now while rarely letting stock roles feel stock. And she's added rock singer to her busy schedule, too. The stamina on this woman! Her career is still missing that true against-type breakthrough that would serve as corrective eye surgery for Hollywood. They still only see her as "unattractive unhappy girl" (as is evidenced again by her work in Evening and The Dead Girl). Luckily Toni shrugs off such limited views with her expansive talents. Wasn't she great in Little Miss Sunshine? Prediction: She'll fight to keep this top ten spot.

Scarlett Johansson
"her best performances have a fascinatingly still quality"
Age: 22
Whoa nellie! Scarjo has become the very definition of ubiquitous. Since hitting this top ten she's made match Match Point, The Prestige, The Black Dahlia, Scoop, a Justin Timberlake music video and posed for many advertisements, leading me to believe that she's cloned herself. I'm not sure the ubiquity is doing her favors. What once read as mystique seems to now read as "wrong for this role" Because I like her, I'll blame this one on Hollywood who, having succumbed to their insatiable lust for her, wants her to appear in every movie. She has two movies coming out in 2007 (The Nanny Diaries and The Other Boleyn Girl) and three more scheduled, including a reunion with Woody Allen (Midnight in Barcelona). But I suspect she'll do something great again soon and be in movies for the long haul.

Michelle Pfeiffer
"her semi retirement is causing me actual grief"
Age: 49
It is now officially "Pfeiffer Week" on the blog, sponsored by the happy news that she is on the big screen for the remainder of the summer (Hairspray and Stardust. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you). New movies mean she'll hold her position ~ though she'll always be #1 to me.

Cate Blanchett
"the next Meryl Streep"
Age: 38
Cate and I have broken up. I know you think we should get back together but I exhausted her with my ultra specific demands and she exhausted me with her technique --we weren't right for each other! Since the list was compiled two years ago we've seen her in Little Fish, Babel, The Good German, and Notes on a Scandal. I liked her best in Hot Fuzz. She made me giggle with instant recognition and then she was mercifully gone a minute later... which is really unlike her. Even after announcing that she'd take time off from her annual Oscar assault she kept announcing new films.

Julianne Moore
"when she returns to roles worthy of her, she'll regain her place atop any actress list"
Age: 46
The bad film parade continues: Trust the Man, Freedomland, Next. ARGH. We hope that Children of Men [are you sitting down? You need to be sitting down: Julianne Moore is in a GOOD movie! one of the year's best] signifies a change in direction. Upcoming lead roles in Savage Grace (solid reviews at Cannes) and Blindness (great book) and a supporting spot in I'm Not There for her greatest collaborator writer/director Todd Haynes, indicate she realizes she's moved too far from the type of pictures that won her her fame. Still... until I see evidence that she hasn't forgotten how to play anything outside of disturbed and/or childless mothers, I'm going to worry. I'm going to worry a lot.

5-1

Samantha Morton
"The magic and the alien grandeur of this actress comes from the way that she seems forever concealed."
Age: 30
Morton has made several movies recently but none of them seem to be in release. The next one you will be allowed to see is The Golden Age (Cate Blanchett's rival queen) Will she snag another Oscar nom?

Kirsten Dunst
"the sparkliest young actress working"
Age: 25
My most controversial choice in the initial list and her detractors have only multiplied since the publication date. She's the young actress everyone loves to hate. She wasn't playing it safe with Marie Antoinette, taking on a character that only emphasized what already turns people away. But I'm not blind. I get the hate. I'm as bored with her work in Spider-Man 3 as you are and as she is. Pull it together Kiki. Time's a wastin'! She's making a comedy next How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (with Simon Pegg from Hot Fuzz) and I think that's a smart move. She hasn't brought the funny in a good long while and she can.

Kate Winslet
"I love Kate Winslet. No, let me rephrase...I worship Kate Winslet"
Age: 31
Kate doesn't work enough for my taste but she does choose her projects carefully. You have to respect that. She recently tried romantic comedy (The Holiday) a genre she hadn't dabbled in and then did what she does best: slightly bohemian feminine angst in Little Children. Next up: Reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road, ten years after Titanic made them household names (related post). Prediction: She looks set to battle it out with Kidman as the definitive Actress of the Aughts.

Patricia Clarkson
"We don't so much experience movies through her like we do with passionate movie stars, we experience it alongside her; We're in it together, just Patty and us"
Age: 47
Patty's superb run of confidantes, mothers, and wives in the decade's first gave her a deserved high rank. Supporting stars have trouble maintaining their casting profile so she'll likely be falling when the list is revised, unless a few more magical roles and neo classics come her way. But really how lucky can one talented actress get? Up next: No Reservations (with CZJ), Lars and the Real Girl (with Ryan Gosling), Married Life (with Chris Cooper and Rachel McAdams), Blind Date (with Stanley Tucci), Elegy (with Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz), Midnight in Barcelona (with Scarjo and Javier Bardem), and what sounds like an Oscarbait crusading mother role in Hurricane Mary --if she is in fact the Mary of the title. Who knows. Her character's name is Mary. IMDB can be maddeningly incomplete. Dakota AND Elle Fanning will star as disabled twins (?!?)

Nicole Kidman
"the machinery and chutzpah of her star-making has been a jaw-dropping sight to behold"
Age: 40
It's been quiet in Kidmanland. Fur was only a whisper and more ambitious in concept than successful in execution. But Kidman fever should spread again with her upcoming triple: The Invasion, The Golden Compass (both with Daniel Craig) and Margot at the Wedding (presumably her next Oscar bid). After that we might see her in Need opposite longtime best friend Naomi Watts. But the thing everyone is waiting for is Australia which will reunite her with the person most responsible for her mega stardom --outside of herself I mean-- Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!). She only just turned 40 so if she plays her cards right she still has a few more years atop Hollywood's actress food chain.

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To read more articles about any of these women, chase the labels below...

DVD: Of Mice and Mame

N o w * o n * D V D

This & That
Longford -Jim Broadbent (yes) and Samantha Morton (amen!) co-star in this true story about a compassionate Earl and the jailed murderess he befriended. Presumably stupendous riveting acting follows. Adding it to the queue.
Reno 911! Miami -I have the screener DVD sitting right here -- hope to watch soon.
The Lucille Ball Collection -A box set of five of Lucy's movies but it doesn't include Douglas Sirk's Lured which is the only Lucy movie I've liked (among the few I've seen). It does include her offkey musical performance in Mame. One of my best friends loves this movie but I love him anyway. In his defence, "Bosom Buddies" is pretty bitchy/hilarious as musical comedy numbers go.
The Secret of Nimh -The only movie about rodents that I've ever enjoyed. I haven't seen it since the 80s. Does it hold up?

I'm Old
Bridge to Terabithia - I never knew what this was but apparently when it came out I was supposed to have known. Oops.

A Plague On All Our Houses
Miss Potter -This movie, about the author Beatrix Potter and her delightful picture books, gave me hives all over. Consider that a "proceed at your own risk" PSA. She Who Must Not Be Named gives another excruciating cutesyfussylookatme performance. Ewan Macgregor and Emily Watson are also onhand to conquer the itching. They're like a soothing oatmeal bath ... but why risk hives in the first place? [my initial outbreak]