Oops. The 'Ask Nathaniel / Q&A' column is a Monday experience. And here it is on Tuesday. I blame... what really matters is the blame somebody to blame. well if that's the thing you enjoy placing the blame, if that's your aim, give me the blame.
HI EVERYBODY! Are you glad that the themed banner is back up top? I'm going with photography this week so here is a picture of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for laughs before we get to eight reader questions after the jump starring Alfred Hitchcock, Daniel Day-Lewis, Drew Barrymore and The Golden Girls.
Why? I don't know. So, it's your fault then!
/3RTFUL: Are you resentful of double digit ticket prices at the multiplex?
PAUL OUTLAW: What are your three favorite Hitchcock films?
Easy! That's... let's see... uh. Actually this is not easy at all. On a personal level, Rope (1949) was very important to my cinephilia and I used to always shout Rear Window (1954) to this question but I have to admit that I don't think about it all that often these days. I'd love to be outrageously contrarian and pick Marnie (1964), Frenzy (1972) or Family Plot (1976) but in truth I think the Master of Suspense was considerably less masterful after 1960. I know I'm supposed to emphatically love Rebeccca (1940), North by Northwest (1959) and The Birds (1963) but I always feel a teensy bit like I'm fibbing when I say I do even though I adore them. I have no real personal relationship with Shadow of a Doubt (1943) or Strangers on a Train (1951) but I suspect I would if we saw each other more often.
So to make a long answer shorter I'll just say that over the years, and I mean this quite literally, Psycho (1960) has risen in my informal rankings / estimation each time I've seen it and is now my favorite of his films -- basically I think it's perfect -- even though to say so sounds so basic since it's so ridiculously famous. Spots #2 and #3 change sometimes but the most common #2 and #3 are Notorious (1946) and Vertigo (1958).
CAL ROTH: Rate and rank the last ten best actors
NATHANIEL: Okay. I don't want this Oscar question every week but for symmetry's sake since we did Best Actress last week, let's do it. While I care about this category much less its female equivalent, for whatever reason, The Academy traditionally makes much better choices both for the nominees and the winners in this category (while usually passing on similarly genius female work). To show how good they are at it, I've included how the actor fared in the Film Bitch Awards that year "since those are the correct answers," he said modestly.
Why are Best Actor winners so much better than Best Actress winners even though Actresses are better? ARGH
- Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood (gold medalist)
- Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln (gold medalist)
- Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart (silver - gold went to Colin Firth in A Single Man)
- Sean Penn, Milk (silver- gold went to Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler)
- Jean Dujardin, The Artist (silver - gold went to Brad Pitt in Moneyball)
- Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club (nominee - gold went to Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave)
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote (nominee - gold went to Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain)
- Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland (silver- gold went to Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson)
- Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything (nominee - SPOILER ALERT - gold will be going to Ralph Fiennes in Grand Budapest Hotel, the only gold medalist from our awards in this category's past ten years who was not Oscar-nominated. *sniffle*)
- Colin Firth, The King's Speech (the only eventual Oscar winner I didn't nominate from this category in the past ten years in my own awards. He landed in the dread sixth spot - gold went to Christian Bale, also an Oscar winner but I put him in lead rather than Oscar's "supporting" for The Fighter)
Why do you suppose Oscar is better at choosing male winners?
BILL THE BEAR: Recommend a couple of movie star biographies or memoirs that you really like and would recommend to others.
I know I've said before that I'm crazy about "With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E Grant" which has an abundance of great stories from the set of films like Bram Stoker's Dracula, Hudson Hawk, Henry & June, Spice World and more. Another good one for juicy anecdotes is "Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them" by Frank Langella (though what he wrote about Paul Newman pissed me off.) I liked Maureen Stapleton's "A Hell of a Life". And I recently read "The Life of Vanessa Redgrave" by Dan Callahan who, full disclosure, I know personally (he was thrilled when we invented the word "actressexual" since he's always been one) though it kind of made me depressed about the overall quality of her filmography.
Usually I find star bios interesting but I guess I haven't read enough of them to know when they're "good" versus "interesting." I have books on my shelf on Steve McQueen, Jane Fonda, Joan Blondell, Lillian Gish, Natalie Wood, and Gloria Swanson that I keep meaning to read / finish. The first memoir I ever read was Shelley Winter's bestseller "Shelley: Also Known As Shirley" as a teenager. It was so successful it even got a sequel. It was due to my obsession with A Place in the Sun and I remember being scandalized by it (the book not the film) but I was a very sheltered Mormon boy at the time.
BVR: I believe for some Film Experience readers (like myself), it's much easier to assess performances than it is to judge the merits what happens behind the camera, like directing, writing, and editing? I always blur the line between those three, particularly if I notice a problematic scene, it's hard to attribute fault to either the director or the writer or the editor? What do you use to draw the line between those three crafts?
This is a tough one. Editing, "the invisible art" is the toughest to judge since you don't know how much footage and coverage and performance variations they have to work with. I tend to think of it as which films have the best sustained rhythms and tempos with scenes and across the long arc. And if there's a lot of cutting (indicating a lot of coverage) why are the cuts where they are and which shots are connected? Is it telling us something or is it just A.D.D.? As for how screenplays, I think it's fairly easy to judge its plot structure but when it comes to dialogue, try imagining the scene with better and worse actors. If it holds up regardless, it's pretty great writing.
TYLER: Are you a fan of "The Golden Girls," Nathaniel? I've never seen you mention it before. If you are, whom do you find the strongest of this impeccable quartet, and which is your favorite episode?
Shhhh. Are the gay police listening? I like it but I don't love it the way the gays are required to. Therefore I don't have a favorite episode though I freely admit that I a) sing along with the theme and b) love cheesecake. I'm of the opinion that if you've seen one episode you've seen them all since it's basically just variations on four jokes (Blanche is slutty, Rose is stupid, Sophia is crude, Dorothy is sarcastic). There are a remarkable number of variations on those jokes, I'll give them that. I think Betty White gives, quite consistently, the best and funniest performance in the show but it's sweet that they took turns winning Emmys. I wish the Emmys had been that clever with Friends, Sex and the City, and Mad Men.
BHURAY: Five favorite Drew Barrymore performances?
Okay okay. You did ask twice. Persistent!
- Scream (1996)
- Grey Gardens (2009)
- Never Been Kissed (1999)
- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
- Mad Love (1995) ???? I don't remember this one very well but I think she was going for something way more dramatically intense than she usually attempted and we love to see an actor challenge themselves, whatever the results.
P.S. I think Whip It (2009) is so good and due to that I wish she'd direct another female driven comedy again. I also love her as producer because I think the Charlie's Angels films are super fun. Yep, you heard me. Deal with it.
GUESTGUESTGUEST: Which old musical would you like the Oscars to randomly celebrate during next year's telecast? Something must bridge the gap between The Sound of Music and the highly anticipated Dr. Dolittle tribute in 2017.
This question made me LOL so it's in. I seriously doubt we'll get a musical tribute next year since AMPAS is probably P.O.ed at the Smash boys for overdoing it on the musical end and forgetting the jokes. You're not giving me much leeway between 1965 and 1967 though so let's skip the 50th anniversaries and wish for a 35th anniversary medley of Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu at next year's ceremony with all of the Lead and Supporting Actress nominees as rollerskating muses and all of the Supporting Actor and Actor nominees recreating the "Y.M.C.A." scene -- showers, pool, and gymnasium and all (so let's hope they pick an attractive bunch) -- and choreographed by Debbie Allen who Oscar hasn't hired in a really long time.
That's it for this week's Q & A. Naturally you'll want to compose your own answers to these questions or comment on mine. You know what to do...