Reader Spotlight: John from Boston
Monday, May 9, 2011 at 3:00PM 
Continuing the Reader Appreciation Series, here's a conversation with John (pictured left) from Boston. He's been reading the site ever since it launched and hearing that warms the cockles of my heart. Loyalty is definite top ten top three material as character traits go, don't you think?
Nathaniel: Do you remember your first movie?
JOHN: I think my first movie was Cinderella. I was so frightened of the evil stepmother that we had to leave early. When I was young, every movie scared me. I didn’t sleep for years after E.T. (yet somehow/somewhere I became obsessed with this medium).
First movie obsession?
Probably Clue. I remember renting it when I was home from school with chicken pox in fifth grade. I probably watched it 10 times in one weekend. It is so campy, but so utterly entertaining. …and what a cast!!! Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock and Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White are classic! I still bust that one out every once and a while.
I love that one, too. Mrs. White is the best in the movie but when I play the game though I am always Professor Plum or Miss Scarlet.
Mrs Peacock and Mrs. White
Okay, you're suddenly in charge of the cinema for a year. How do you wield this awesome power?
- Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore have to make at least 2 movies together
- Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock are put on one year hiatus (Meg Ryan would be too, but what the hell has she done lately)
- No sequels
- No Oscar campaigns
- I decide all Oscar nominees and winners
Heh. Okay. Who are your three favorite actresses?
JULIANNE MOORE is the God to whom I pray. I saw her receive the Hasty Pudding award in February. She cannot be more awesome. There are too many awe-inspiring performances to name. JUDI DENCH continues to amaze me. I thought she could only be the strong, comic matriarch until she blew me away in Notes on a Scandal. MERYL STREEP is a given. She is so perfect every time out that I take her for granted. If she doesn’t win a third Oscar sometime soon there is no justice. Katharine Hepburn, Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie and Angela Bassett get special recognition.
Take one Oscar away from someone. Give it to someone else.
I can’t only do one here. I have to take advantage of the moment. I would go back to 1958 and give Susan Hayward’s Oscar for I Want to Live! to Rosalind Russell for Auntie Mame. Auntie Mame is my all time favorite and Russell is so spot-on. One of the best comic performances ever! Second, in 2005, I would take Reese Witherspoon’s Oscar for Walk the Line and give it to Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger. It is a major travesty that this performance was not even nominated (Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice…what was the Academy thinking?). That was definitely Allen’s best--better than her three Oscar-nominated, which are all fantastic.
2005's Film Bitch Gold Medalist Joan Allen has other fans. She shoulda won the Oscar.
Finally, I would take Kim Basinger’s 1997 Supporting Actress win for L.A. Confidential and give it to Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights. This is my third choice because I still have faith that Juli will win one day.
Have you ever dressed up as a film character for Halloween? Has a film character ever dressed as you?
Like so many others in the past, I was tighty whitey clad Tom Cruise in Risky Business two years ago for Halloween. I had the right hair at the moment . He’s not a film character, but Matthew Morrison’s Will Schuester definitely raided my tie/cardigan collection.
Okay John. Let's wrap up. The movie of your life. Tell us about it.
Stephen Daldry would direct the movie of my life starring James Franco (I am not scarred enough by the Oscar gig to not cast him). The movie is part Seasons 1-3 of Brothers and Sisters, part Mean Girls, part Into the Wild, part Latter Days, part The Devil Wears Prada, part…
So many parts!
Reader Comments (28)
"Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice…what was the Academy thinking?"
My heart is closed to you forever, John from Boston.
RJ -- but he *REALLY* loves Julianne Moore and that has to count for something... or quite a lot of somethings if you ask me ;) Heart: Open.
also i feel now as as good a time as any to say that i played CLUE this weekend but get this: it was "CHOCOLATE CLUE" you eat the evidence after the mystery is solved. I'm not making this up! Best ending ever. Miss Scarlett was delicious. (although in all seriousness The only thing that would have made it better was if the pieces had tasted different but the candlestick and the dining room tasted just like Miss Scarlett!)
The "What were they thinking" noms (based solely on quality) are 1. Mrs. Henderson Presents (I know he's a Dench fan, but I can't imagine how it would deserve a nom in any year.) 2. North Country. "Sexual harrasment case coal miner blues." Sounds like a soggy social conscience movie and the biggest "easy target" for a single nom switch. (Not like there's many hard core Charlize Theron fans out there.)
Tighty whiteys? Brave man. Would it be crossing the line to ask if there are any pictures?
I can't believe Reese WItherspoon is the first alum of Pleasantville to win an Oscar. It should have been Joan Allen.
And for the Keira Knightley issue, yes, I agree that the Pride and Prejudice nomination is 'acting beautiful' but I have a feeling that the girl is going to ignored even when she's doing her best work e.g. Never Let Me Go.
COMPLETELY agree that Joan Allen deserved to win that year. I still can't get over that tragedy every time I see Upside of Anger.
BVRS -- as those of you who were around these parts in 2005 now, i also agree. She won the film bitch gold medal. It's just a STAR performance on the A+ level. she's working every last inch of that character. the movie can't keep up with her but damn she's great in it.
I kinda liked Keira Knightley in 'P&P' as well and I'm usually not a fan of hers... and yes, Joan Allen in 'Upside of Anger' was all sorts of amazing.
And the tighty whitey Tom Cruise thing. Brave. I only did it once... and I was drunk and slid right into the bookshelf against the wall.
Nathaniel--I agree, Nathaniel. And even though the performance is the reward in and of itself, the Academy's negligence that year still stings, partly because the performance was right up their alley and it was an overall empty year for leading actresses. Sometimes they take their job seriously, but other times it's just ludicrous what they come up with. Anyway, I just imagined the Film Bitch Awards that year as the real Oscars and was so happy that you gave her the gold medal. Thumbs up for you!
I agree that Allen was superb in THE UPSIDE OF ANGER, still I think that Keira's nomination for P&P was well deserved, she was the main reason of Joe Wright's feature success
Allen could have take Dench or Theron spots
On a sidenote, I love how pretty much everyone on this site loves Julianne Moore.
But let's not forget Felicity Huffman in Transamarica. I thought she was pretty brilliant too. Haven't seen 'the Upside of Anger' but I have seen 'Hachiko: A Dog's Story', does that count?
B&S, Mean Girls, Into the Wild, 'Prada'... four of my absolute favorite shows/movies. I'll buy a ticket to the movie of your life in a heartbeat, John.
My 2005 lineup:
1. Sibel Kekilli - Head On: One of the best debut performance I even seen. She's really magnetic.
2. Joan Allen - The Upside of Anger: No more words need to say. AWFUL decision not only for the Academy, also the HFPA, SAG and critics groups.
3. Q'rianka Kilcher - The New World: Another excellent debut
4. Juliette Binoche - Cache: Very subtle performance
5. Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice: And I usually despise her (I loathe her in "The Duchess" and "Never Let Me Go" and she was the weak link -for me- in "Atonement") but her Elizabeth Bennett was very compelling
Alt: Emmanuelle Devos - Kings and Queen & Vera Farmiga - Down to the Bone
Yay for Boston readers!
Glad to see that he's a fan of CLUE as well. And his Oscar picks are very interesting.
See this is why I love comments like these. You all got me so interested in watching Upside of Anger now. I wanna see that amazing performance you all said.
I think Keira is definitely growing more and more as a serious actress rather than a star. In fact, she was the only best thing in The Duchess. My sweet girl...
@Nina: I found Felicity Huffman's performance in "Transamerica" to be a bit too mannered, I guess, and not in the way of a person making the transition from male to female. It was rather akin to an actress attempting to capture the essence of a person making the transition from male to female.
As for the subject at hand, I co-sign to John's edict of no sequels and would amend it to include re-workings, re-imaginings, and redos of any previous works of media.
I wonder what Keira's reception would be like if her first real role had been P&P. It's the same 'type' of performance as Carey Mulligan's in An Education, yet people insist on hating her. She's grown a lot as an actress, with P&P, Atonement, and Never Let Me Go, and now she has a David Cronenberg film on the horizon and two critically acclaimed theater performances behind her. I think it's time people finally start taking a fresh look at her.
@Troy I haven't seen most of the best actress nominees performances of 2005, with the exception of Felicity Huffman, Keira Knightley & Reese Witherspoon, so I can't compare but I thought she did very well. I like that she changed her entire attitude and stayed in character, in this case a male, in her emotions.
A lot of actors are very mannered when they play a specific character. I think it depends on what you like better, a technical or an emotional performance. For example I don't enjoy Meryl Streep's performances as much because I think she is too technical and overthinks her roles.
I love Knightley in P&P, but John is *GORGEOUS*!
Yeah-it's been said before and it will likely be said again, but you could have a very successful dating website as a sidebar to the Film Experience here Nathaniel. eHarmonius Filmwatching where they could match you based on your actressexual compatability. :)
As cute as John is, though, I gotta go with the concensus here-Dench or Theron seem like easier targets that Knightley, particularly considering the interesting work that that Oscar nomination led her to afterwards.
I apologize to everyone for hating on Keira. No harm meant. I do think she is good. I stand by my thoughts, though, that any cute, young Brit could have played the part. Great news is that Keira has been getting awesome roles, and since she is young and hot, she will probably win an Oscar some time soon. - Also, agree with everyone that Dench's role in Mrs. Henderson isn't her strongest, and that any Dame in her 70s could have played the part (see the British cast of "Tea with Mussolini"), but i would personally nominate my favorite Dame every year if I could :). 2005 was just a weak year for leading roles for women...except Joan and Felicity (in my opinion).
Thanks to everyone's comments with the Joan Allen love. The lady needs another movie soon!!!
2005 has quite a few options if you look outside the expected 6 -7
my 5
theron - solid nothing amazing but her film let's her down
danes - i find her sidewalk scene near the end the reason i nominate her,winsome throughout
allen -easy the winner,that slap to mike binder!!!
witherspoon - effortlessly lovely,coulda used more drama and she is supporting.
paltrow - fearsome and authentic.
@MARK: Wouldn't we all love to slap Mike Binder?
@RJ
LOLOLOLOLOL
I confess to not having liked Upside of Anger at all when I saw it (in theaters when it first came out) - Allen's character was all kinds of grating and unlikeable, with no real balance (we didn't see her "before" to be able to compare. And the explanation for her husband's disappearance was just...a bit lame, and only served to humiliate the character and prove that her anger was unjustified.) And don't get me wrong, I love Joan Allen - she should have had all kinds of Oscars by this point, often for being the very best thing in movies that let her down. And all sorts of roles since that one, besides being a supporting player in "Bourne" movies.
I don't know if my gender affected my reception of the film/her performance (or it was partly my shock at seeing her so damn thin onscreen, relatively speaking, but that doesn't keep me from loving all sorts of other performances); I notice the love is coming from the guys here; more likely it was just a personal reaction. That said, the love it's getting from everyone here makes me wonder if it isn't time to revisit the movie (although it will be at home, so the effect will not be the same as it was with the big screen - being overwhelmed by the performance.)
So perhaps the perf really is greater than I'm giving credit for, if it turned me off so much - I definitely had a reaction to it.
Janice -- i actually rewatched the film recently -- maybe late last year? don't really remember -- and i thought it was much worse than i remembered it being, and definitely off putting in a lot of ways. But I still stand by Joan Allen's performance being an A grade STAR PERFORMANCE. She's just.... well, i think it's her best performance ever, even given the bizarre plot she's forced to deal with.