With nothing new in theaters worth getting excited about my head has been all over the (time) map of cinema. I picked this year somewhat arbitrarily to discuss.
Were you alive in 1983? Even if you weren't do you think of it fondly? To give you a little context for the year: Ronald Reagan was POTUS and Nancy had just contributed "Just Say No" to the vernacular; M*A*S*H ended its lengthy run on television; Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was all anybody listened to; Cheers and Hill Street Blues were the Emmy champs.
Let's savor 1983's cinematic crop for a moment. Are these movies (and people) and things aging well? Is there much left to savor?
Best Movies According To...
Oscar: The Big Chill, The Dresser, Tender Mercies, Terms of Endearment, and The Right Stuff were the best pictures nominees but they also loved Cross Creek, Fanny & Alexander, Educating Rita, Silkwood and Zelig
Golden Globe: (drama) Reuben Reuben, The Right Stuff, Silkwood, Tender Mercies, and Terms of Endearment* (comedy/musical) The Big Chill, Flashdance, Trading Places, Yentl*, and Zelig
Cannes: The Ballad of Narayama
Box Office: 1) Return of the Jedi 2) Terms of Endearment 3) Flashdance 4) Trading Places 5) War Games 6) Octopussy 7) Sudden Impact 8) Staying Alive 9) Mr Mom 10) Risky Business
Nathaniel: The King of Comedy, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Pauline at the Beach, The Return of the Jedi, The Right Stuff, Silkwood, Terms of Endearment, The Year of Living Dangerously and Yentl. I'm holding a spot in my top ten open for Fanny & Alexander or Zelig which are weirdly movies I never get around to seeing even though I am likely to worship both given the time frame in their auteur's filmography in which they land...
Adorable '83 Babies after the jump...
Born in '83 Mix Tape
Mika, Amy Winehouse, Miranda Lambert, Cheryl Cole
The Three, The Proud, The Oscar Nominees
Jonah Hill, Gabourey Sidibe & Jesse Eisenberg
Directors
David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi), Drake Doremus (Like Crazy), Brian Crano (Bag of Hammers)
Tveit, Kunis, Cavill
Perfect Physical Specimens Created in Lab To Make Everyone Else Feel Ugly
Alice Braga, Reeve Carney, Henry Cavill, Ronnie Kroell, Mila Kunis, Christopher Russell, Xavier Samuel, Adrianne Palicki, Daniel 'Cloud' Campos, and Aaron Tveit
Whatever Happened To...?
Joseph Mazello (I guess he's mostly on tv now? but was such a great child actor in the 1990s) & Leelee Sobieski
Recently Caught Scene Stealing...
Utkarsh Ambudkar (rapping in Pitch Perfect), Noah Segan (f***ing up in Looper), and Rafe Spall (Prometheus and Anonymous... but dear god, no one got a worse supporting role than he did last year as the interviewer in Life of Pi)
Trudy Campbell!
Alison Brie
Spawn of Streep / Sister of Rooney
Mamie Gummer and Kate Mara
Meh
Kate Bosworth, Chris Hemsworth, Felicity Jones
(though i reserve the right to change my mind in the future)
10 Most Awesome Movie People Born in 1983*
This post is dedicated to any TFE reader turning 30 this year. Happy Birthday!
*for now... some legendary people don't reach fame until their 30s so this list will change dramatically in next few years.
10 Aaron Tveit
Because surely casting directors worth their salt have noticed him by now? Will his dreamy but-no-time-for-nonsense-romances revolutionary in Les Misérables bring him big roles? It better. If not, I'll happily take him back on Broadway where he already shined in the DiCaprio role in a musical of Catch Me If You Can.
09 Zoe Kazan
Because, whatever one thinks of her output so far, she's obviously in it for the long haul what with prolific appearances in film, television, and on stage. And now there's screenwriting (Ruby Sparks). True to form she's got three more movies in post coming our way in 2013.
08 Gabby Sidibe
Even if Hollywood never figures out what to do with her (which is sadly likely) she'll always have Precious.
07 Mélanie Laurent
This French beauty held the camera forcefully in Inglourious Basterds and then followed it up in the much warmer and surprisingly more complex 'girlfriend' role in Beginners. More please.
06 Andrew Garfield
Yeah, yeah. He should be higher but we broke up a little during The Amazing Spider-Man. And to think of the future years he'll be wasting with it when we need more performances like Never Let Me Go and The Social Network instead.
05 Louis Garrell
Because if there's a French movie, he's in it. It's a fact. And how perfect was that recent cameo in Heartbeats?
04 Greta Gerwig
I'm only placing her here so she has room to move up. Everything I've read about Frances Ha suggests it's the movie in which all her various promises to become a major singular star fully coalesce. I cannot wait.
03 Jesse Eisenberg
I kept worrying his range was too limited until I realized how many times he's been doing his thing and it's been totally enjoyable. Sometimes the greats aren't versatile in the classic sense but they're still great. And he's added playwrighting to his gifts now. Up next: Five films are coming in the next two years so now's the time to become whatever he's going to be to the movies.
02 Ari Graynor
I'm sad she's leaving the cinema for tv (taking on the Cameron Diaz role in a sitcom version of Bad Teacher) but the cinema deserves to lose her. How have they not given her a proper showcase by now? She's the kind of screen actress that deserves major comic vehicles built entirely around her. Like Babs had in the 70s or Julia Roberts had in the 90s.
01 Emily Blunt
Is she living up to her true potential? I'd argue absolutely not. But even when she doesn't seem to be trying to become a bonafide movie star, she's still pretty captivating (Looper). Someone light a fire under her. Don't we all want her to be a movie star in all caps?