Soon, we'll be buried in an avalanche of awards news again so tonight a brief respite from the current Oscar race. It's Q&A time. Here are eight reader questions I chose to answer. I skipped anything on Category Fraud because I feel so exhausted by that fight ("though undeterred in my moral superiority!" he says arms akimbo and chin up, like a superhero with cape billowing behind him, sworn to upheld 'the Awards Way') and I might have to freak out all over again on nomination morning so let's ignore it for now.
MDA: What 2015 release that you were looking forward to watching disappointed you the most?
NATHANIEL: It feels stranger to answer with a film I liked, especially one that's already getting a critical rethink by way of surprise top ten placements but maybe Magic Mike XXL? While I admire its super cajzh vibe and its focus on female pleasure, I'm puzzled as to why they went more demure with the sequel when they kept promising it would be more stripperific i.e. what everyone expected from Soderbergh's first brilliant film (which you'll remember was a Bronze medalist for Best Picture right here.)
Another big disappointment was Sisters. It's totally funny don't get me wrong. But that's all it is. It's strange that we know that Tina Fey can write brilliant comic masterworks (30 Rock, Mean Girls) but keeps wasting her star power and comic gift on propping up other people's wildly underwritten cliché-filled scripts. I'm beginning to wonder is she even wants to make another comedy classic? Perhaps she's fine coasting until retirement. But it's hard to not wonder what could be if she'd only apply herself again.
EZ: I hereby grant you special powers to go back in time and attend an Academy Awards Ceremony of your choosing. Which year do you choose and why?
NATHANIEL: This question sounds nice until you realize the genie has only granted you one wish instead of three. So stingy!
Retro Oscar Races, Domnhall Gleeson, Bridget Jones's Baby, and more after the jump...
NATHANIEL: I will have to embrace my inner child and go to 1961 Oscars when West Side Story swept. I wasn't alive but a ton of glam stars I love were there, West Side Story is my favorite and Rita Moreno and George Chakiris were probably fun to hang with that night and Natalie Wood & Warren Beatty are quite possibly the prettiest Oscar night couple of all time.
IAN: Domhnall Gleeson is in The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, Ex Machina, and The Revenant this year, but nobody's talking about him. What triggers conversation the way it did Vikander?
NATHANIEL: Having a vagina helps. I'm actually serious. Hear me out though gross generalities lie ahead. Yes, Hollywood can be a sexist hellhole but one of the advantages that grants actresses, albeit it a very short window of advantage, is that Hollywood really really cares about them when they're the new "it" girl. 'It' never lasts of course (a new 'it' girl is only a year or two away) but if you have undeniable talent and can prove it quickly enough (as Vikander has) and luck into big hits (which she hasn't yet) you can build yourself a strong enough foundation for a career that will be hard to kill later on. And then 20-25 years later you might still be working as one of those beautiful older women who are too fabulous for people to ignore even though the gross ageism of Hollywood has already killed the careers of their less lucky contemporaries.
Male stars are rarely glommed on to with anything like that same immediacy. Their fame tends to build over a handful of years until people realize "oh, I've always loved him!" which usually happens in their 30s. (Note what's happening to 36 yr old Oscar Isaac right now. An earlier example is Brad Pitt. Quite famous by 28 but he wasn't a superstar until he was 32). After which they work forever and no one complains when they get old.
In the case of Domnhall vs Alicia there's also the non-insignificant fact that he only had one leading role this year where she had three and he wasn't the single standout performance in any of his pictures and she was the standout in half of hers -- so I gave her a Body of Work Gold Medal this year.
JONN: With all the 70's/80's nostalgia reboots going on (Star Wars, Mad Max, Rocky, Vacation, Ghostbusters...) what other property would make your younger self most happy to revisit? I realize original stories are the most desirable but there seems to be no end in sight to Hollywood remakes.
NATHANIEL: This seems as good a time as any to point people back to an article from this summer in which we investigated sexism in franchise revivals. There we listed a ton of golden properties from the 80s that were female focused (and very successful) but Hollywood ignores them to revisit all the boy stuff. I don't need any of these to be remade (preferring original stories) but since Hollywood definitely loves to regurgitate...
Why hasn't there been a film about those half devil boys?
But if we're talking reboots as stealth remakes (a la The Force Awakens) that could have great parts for men while bringing the original cast back there is absolutely no better option from the 80s than The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Reunite Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon (both still completely gorgeous), convince Jack Nicholson and Cher to come out of acting retirement for cameos ... and rejigger the plot so it's about the now adult boys (they'd be in their late 20s now), a ginger, a brunette, and a blonde at the perfect age to cast a trio of rising male stars ready to franchise it up! If the film was any good at all it'd be a massive hit -- the original was the tenth biggest hit of 1987 just below Lethal Weapon and just above Dirty Dancing and Predator (all of which got franchised).
GEORGE: I know you turned on her, but is there any part of you that misses Renée Zellweger?
Gotta say, I'm pretty excited about Bridget Jones's Baby. I miss her!
NATHANIEL: I never lost affection for the Zeéeeee of Jerry Macguire, Bridget Jones and Nurse Betty. She was just subsumed by another more famous increasingly fussy and then downright hard-to-watch version of the same woman. But I'll be super happy for her if this Bridget Jones 3 thing works out since that's her signature character and she was so deserving of that particular Oscar nomination. I really have meant to post something to say so, so here we are.
Good luck Zeéeeee
JOHN: What do you think of Fernanda Montenegro's performance in Central Station?
NATHANIEL: I wanted Montenegro to win that year and I think she's hugely moving in it. My gold medal that year would have gone to Ally Sheedy in High Art, though, but she had to settle for a Spirit Award the day before the Oscars. Though it always pains the internet to hear, I think Gwyneth Paltrow was the second best of the Academy's shortlist and her Shakespeare in Love work is a luminous and nuanced example of a true star turn. I've always though Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth (both goes at her actually) were overrated (I'd have her at 5 or 6 in 1998... i use to waffle between her and Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex for the fifth slot though I haven't seen either film in years). I've since been converted to full Blanchett fandom, but I truly believe I came around at the right time as opposed to getting it wrong at first. Haha. Yes that's self flattering but her performances back me up. Blue Jasmine (2013) and Carol (2015) are her two finest roles and I don't think it's an accident that they're two of her most recent!
MARSHA: Who are your favorite male and female hookers on screen? Do you worry about the politics of prostitution in movies -- e.g., it's more or less exploitative in film than in real life, prostitution is romanticized, etc.
NATHANIEL: I don't worry about this at all because I believe that prostitution should be legal and Hollywood constantly romanticizes things that are 1000% more evil than prostitution like being an assassin or a serial killer or a gangster. I don't see how prostitution is different than any other job as long as the person doing the job is of legal age and has chosen it of their own free will. Only a tiny percentage of people in the world have jobs that everyone else would envy that fully satisfy and pay them well. There are plenty of jobs in the world that would suit one person but not another, or that one person would find demeaning or drudgery but someone else would actually totally enjoy.
My favorite recent sex-worker in a movie (though she doesn't like the term "prostitute") is Helen Hunt's therapist in The Sessions. I had never before been a fan of her acting but I thought she understood that character's emotions and politics and intellectual life so thoroughly. I loved how boldly sex-positive that movie was and I'll admit I felt a little ashamed watching it because I'd never even thought about the sexual needs of disabled people before.
All that said I do remember being worried for young women everywhere when one of my friend's little 10 or 11 year old sister announced to us that she wanted to be a hooker after watching Pretty Woman on cable in the 90s. True story!
LADYEDITH: There are always think pieces on Love Actually at this time of year. So, do you watch this at X-Mas time? Do you have a favourite character? (Besides Emma Thompson). Your opinion on this "classic" with the great cast.
NATHANIEL: I've never actually seen it. *ducks*
On that embarrassing mic' drop, I'm out. Your turn. Favorite hookers onscreen? Best Actress of 1998? Most Disappointing of 2015? Have at it in the comments.