Jason Gives Thanks
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 5:19PM Howdy folks it's Jason here - with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" we gave some thanks for two classic Christina Ricci performances (have you voted yet?) but it's a rich world with lots of good to great stuff in it so here are a few more things that have brought a big dumb smile to my big dumb face this year.
- For Getting On and the spectacular showcase it's given three crazy talented actresses (not to mention all the smaller roles they fill in with even more under-used gems), letting each of them be both hysterically funny and heartbreaking within the matter of milliseconds (and for introducing the phrase "anal horn" into my vocabulary - that one's a keeper!)
- For the venom that dripped off of Rose Byrne's every ace line reading in Spy (this scene in particular)
- For whoever is tailoring Chad Radwell's khakis on Scream Queens so they're more obscene than if Glen Powell was wearing nothing at all (don't get me wrong, he looks good that way too)
- For the way that Donald Sutherland says the word "PLUCKED" at Julianne Moore in Mockingjay Part 2, which will become my ringtone the minute the clip is available
- For the way that the camera made sweet love to every golden angle of Matthias Schoenaerts in Far From the Madding Crowd (runner-up: Alexander Skarsgard in Diary of a Teenage Girl)
- For the Film Society of Lincoln Center here in NYC, which has spent the last several months spinning from the New York Film Festival (Carol and The Lobster holla) to their annually wonderful "Scary Movies" program to the currently running Todd Haynes retrospective to the upcoming David Lynch & Douglas Sirk series that will swallow whole my holidays -- it's like they're programming one of my favorite screens in the city (at Walter Reade) just for me and me alone, and I like that
- Related to the previous, I am beyond thankful for having gotten to see Bernard Rose's 1988 gem Paperhouse on a big screen, something I've been waiting to do for 25 years
- For Greta Gerwig in Mistress America, who gave yet another stellar comic performance that we'll be grooving on decades from now, long after whatever wins the Best Actress trophy is remembered as much more than a statistic #justiceforcomicbrilliance
- For Catherine Keener's wig on Show Me a Hero
- For Golden Girls repeats (a perennial blessing but Keener's wig made me think of it)
- For Guillermo Del Toro's infatuation with oozing wounds and puffy sleeves and incest, maybe not in that specific order
- For Furiosa!
- For Nathaniel who generously opened up the doors to The Film Experience and let this lunatic in. And of course for all you wonderful people out there in the dark, indulging my whims week after week and offering up some of the funniest randomest and smartest retorts on the web - as a wise old woman in little girl ringlets once said you are all the wind beneath my wings. Fly away, you let me fly so high, oh you, you, you.
While Jason Adams wishes his parents had named him after the killer in the Friday the 13th movies, he takes comfort in the fact that on their first date they went to see The Exorcist. He writes lots of daily nonsense at My New Plaid Pants, mostly about movies and dudes in movies, not necessarily in that order. [Follow Jason on Twitter]. All of Jason postings here.
Reader Comments (11)
You're dark with green eyes. I remember initially going gaga once I saw your face pic. Very Joaquin Phoenix-esque.
Yes yes yes - Rose Byrne in Spy forever. And amen to Chad radwell - I can't wait to meet Thad and Brad tonight
Jartful chip.
You're the best!
it's my goal in 2016 to carve out more time for myself at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. I'm always missing these incredible events even though i live right here and that theater is very nearly the most convenient to my apartment of any of the good theaters.
while i didn't love Mistress America at all i hear on your on not recognizing great comediennes. Greta Gerwig is so continuously magical... i could indeed see her having fans many many years from now who rediscover her work.
Jason - I love your Beauty vs. Beast series which is either very funny or very hard, and sometimes both.
As a fan of "Getting On" I applaud your good taste.
Getting On ... now there's a Thanksgiving treat.
Yay for Getting On. Just started watching due in part to a great interview with Alex Borstein on The Treatment.
Yay for Rose Byrne in everything.
Yay for Matthias, though that movie was snorefest, and I love period dramas.
Yay for Nathaniel for pulling you and other talented writers/film lovers together for this terrific site.
Jason, you are so right about Getting On. I just watched both seasons, and the ladies work miracles with the comedy. Niecy especially broke my heart. I can't remember when a show made me laugh this hard while gulping down tears.
This list is immaculate! And not just for the Schoenaerts.
I *just* started getting into Getting On (that's a weird sentence). I have On Demand so I'm in the middle of Season Two. I knew Laurie Metcalf was great, but I'm blown away by Alex Borstein and Neicy Nash every episode, considering that I've only seen them do really broad comedy before.