Wednesday
Oct122016
Open Thread
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 6:21PM What's on your cinematic mind. Anything? You've been uncharacteristically silent. I think I'm off to the movies myself --> Miss Peregrine because why not?
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 6:21PM
Reader Comments (40)
Have you seen Toni Erdmann? You need to say something about the epic Cannes best actress battle: Huller vs Huppert vs Braga
Not quite cinematic, but I'm too excited for the Drag Race All Stars 2 finale! Firmly #TeamKatya... how about you?
I really want Roxxxy to win just to see the internet go insane.
It's not only quiet, but it's weirdly silent for a year that seems to have so many great films coming soon. Why is early buzz so subdued? Is mid-October really too early for pundits to start guessing? I mean, if you don't start throwing names out there, suddenly Helen Mirren in Trumbo is happening...
I think there's a feeling reading comments on blogs that people don't want bloggers etc proclaming people locks or overdue and that narrative forming too early,do u think the internet age has taken the unpredictability out of the Oscars.
Has anyone ever seen this Q&A with Kathleen Turner? I randomly came across it recently -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YED9L9s9pB8
So great! Two thoughts (and questions to you) about it -
1) I didn't realize she and Maggie Smith were actually friends. How fun would that dinner party be? You'd have to keep up!
2) And I was shocked to hear her openly slam Elizabeth Taylor's portrayal of Martha in Virginia Wolf. Especially since (from what I understand) Elizabeth's performance is highly regarded by most people. And she was still alive when Kathleen was saying this. Can you think of any other actresses openly criticizing another actresses' Oscar winning performance? I'm sure it happens all the time in private, but in a public setting like this .. that has to be rare. I love how Kathleen has no filter! Actors today are so PC and guarded.
In the spirit of Eva Green giving an awards-worthy performance in a film that voters won't look twice at for such things, I just saw The Girl on the Train. And I'm completely torn. It's trash, we know, but here's the catch: so does it. The gimmicky camera-work (and a female DP, woo hoo!), the overabundance of flashbacks and flashes, the Elfman score... Everyone involved knew what they were doing, went all in, and I feel like it was this beautiful ugly successful failure? I don't know.
Also, why is there still no Deadwood movie?
Thirdly, I hope you all have seen Deadwood.
Cal -- the one all three lost? LOL.
Do you think Zellweger's comeback is for real? I *still* haven't seen BJB (for shame), but now see she has the new Courtney Hunt drama coming out this month, too. Are we witnessing a Renéessaince of sorts? Or has that ship already sailed?
I have also been busy, including (sadly) no time for cinema, but did you ever post the answers to the last round of questions for Nathaniel?
I think she needs a great supporting role in a comedy,that's when we first fell for her.
I'm a big fan of Jack O'Connell. But because he doesn't necessarily have project or project lined up, I fear that Hollywood hasn't quite figured out what to do with him. A bit of a shame because he's five times better than his contemporaries that are in demand than he is (Eddie Redmayne, Miles Teller, the Hemsworths, etc.). He and Michael B. Jordan are the best male actors of their generation.
I've been thinking about Muriel's Wedding since the Sydney Theatre Company announced it is going to stage a live musical version. When I watched the film for the first time many years ago I found it really dark and depressing. I saw it again recently on TV and I still found it really depressing. It's confusing to me because it's thought of as such a raucous comedy. I am somehow immune to the comedy in it, if it's there?!
Ez:
Are you gay?
;-)
I keep trying to motivate myself to watch Deadwood. Saw the first season when it aired, haven't watched the other two seasons, and I think I have to watch the first season again to understand the next two.
I've been just absolutely obsessed with 3 Women. I bought the Criterion DVD a few months ago after so many folks have insisted I would love it and so shocked I hadn't already seen it. Just wow! There are so many moments both haunting me and making laugh, almost all from the, frankly, remarkable performance by Shelley Duvall.
Appropriate to the current poll on the site, I had rewatched Rosemary's Baby a few days ago, which is just such a perfect film. It remains scarier and gets scarier on repeat watches somehow, managing to be both obvious and subtle at the same time. With confidence, Ruth Gordon is my very favourite Best Supporting Actress win. One of the grandest, most inspired decisions the Academy ever made.
I also watched Ava Duvernay's 13th, which I'm really hoping wins the Oscar.
I saw John Waters' Polyester in its intended Odorama the other night, which was wonderfully hilarious. Then I saw The Gitl On the Train last night, which I liked a lot more than I expected. Emily Blunt was a lot better than she needed to be, really.
I'm getting more and more excited about a lot of the year's upcoming films after being relatively unenthused in general. Mostly the film's that have come out of the NYFF. I am just dying to see Isabelle Huppert in Elle that I might plan a trip to New York to correlate with the limited theatrical release there.
I've been feeling the need to see a heartbreaking film that just makes me cry like a baby. Not sure what to see though.
Matt St.Clair: Be thankful filmmakers and producers are even interested in one of your young favourites, even if they're not Hollywood. That's more than one of my young favourites can say at this point.
Some thoughts, in reverse order
Nadir: Manchester by the Sea fits the bill.
Marsha Mason: The first season of Deadwood is easily the weakest. There are passages in the second and third seasons, though, that rival the best of any television.
Matt St. Clair: Interesting thought. I've been familiar with Redmayne for over a decade, so it's weird to think of he and O'Connell as being part of the same generation. I definitely agree he's quite talented and I look forward to seeing what he does next.
Ellsworth: Hey, DEADWOOD reference! It's not unheard of. Katherine Hepburn hated Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, if I recall.
cal roth: The problem with pitting those three against each other is that you also have to remember Cannes rules - no film more than once after the big 'picture' related prizes. Screenplay and performance often go hand-in-hand. So, for me, based on the 11 films I've seen from Cannes
Palme D'Or: Toni Erdmann
Grand Prize (runner-up): Paterson
Jury Prize (3rd): Elle
Director: Andrea Arnold, American Honey
Actor: Shabah Hosseini, The Salesman
Actress: Sonia Braga, Aquarius
Screenplay: The Salesman/Aquarius/Paterson/Toni Erdmann - not deciding yet.
Just watched SNOWDEN. JGL sure is trying so hard to get an Oscar nom, but it is a solid work albeit without much range imo. The accent just seems like it comes from a SNL sketch.
ELLE, especially Isabelle, is perfection.
And TALK TO HER, which I finally got to see, is so tragically beautiful.
Ummm.... Tim Burton?
Or was that a rhetorical question?
@ Ellsworth
Angela Bassett's comments about Halle Berry and Monster's Ball were not pretty, even less so in light of her own work for Ryan Murphy these past couple of years.
Just saw ELLE, and immediately afterwards raced to The Film Experience to read your review. Agree with most of your points. Overall, I really liked the movie and loved Huppert. Friday, I'm off to see my second 2016 Huppert movie: L'Avenir.
American Honey🙌🐝🍾🕷🐛💉🔫🐢👌
I really want to read/hear the opinions of the whole Film Experience Gang on Tom Jones, one of the craziest (silliest?) Best Picture winners ever.
If Bob Dylan Win a Emmy and a Tony, how we Will name that??
EGOT WINNER = EMMY, GRAMMY, OSCAR AND TONY
With a NOBEL: ENGOT? TONGE? ONGET? EGNOT? TOGEN? Other Idea?
From the Cannes movies I saw, I'd have to give Toni Erdmann the Golden Palm too, and I'd give Huppert best actress even though she's the second best. The best is Huller, hands down. Aquarius could take a directing prize.
Can we up the total amount of nominees for the acting categories to 24? But instead of adding an additional nominee to each category, can we just have 4 wild card spots that can show up in any category? You know, so Best Actress can potentially have 9 nominees? We could use this system this year!
Agree with both Jono and Peggy Sue -- patiently waiting for both answers to readers' questions and the smackdown!
Paul Outlaw - But Bassett's comments were really about the role, not Berry's performance, right? She was actually supportive of Berry and wanted her to win.
Why does nobody talk about the Pot Luck/Russian Dolls/Chinese Puzzle trilogy. I just watched them all, and my god there is charm for days!!! Why does Kelly Reilly not have more of a career?
SoSue: Four wild card slots that can be assigned to any category? You made clear why you would want it, but I would assume the Academy's leadership would mostly use that to help justify cracking down on category fraud if they decided to implement it. So, how would it be used in 2015?
Lead Actor:
7 nominees: The nominees + Bale bumped up from Supporting Actor AND Steve Carell.
Lead Actress:
6 or 7 nominees: The nominees + Mara bumped up from Supporting Actress and MAYBE (young voters) Amy Poehler, Inside Out.
Supporting Actor:
5 or 6 nominees: The four left over nominees, + Michael Keaton and Nicholas Hoult, if young actors aren't able to push Poehler through. (99 Homes and Beasts of No Nation were at highest passion at the Globe Nomination announcement and Love & Mercy wound up pushing for a Lead nod, didn't it?)
Supporting Actress:
5 nominees: The four left over nominees, + probably Julie Walters. (Youth and Trumbo lost that level of passion almost instantly, aside from a symbolic nod to Cranston for the latter.)
JB: I know I shouldn't assign most of the blame for Reilly's cinematic career implosion on a single, non movie, performance, but just watch Black Box and you'll probably find your answer.
@ DJDeeJay
You are correct. I still find the comments uncalled for and bite-you-in-the-ass-ish.
I was wondering what happened to the latest "Ask Nathaniel" Answer column, because you did the question Column several weeks ago.
HOW COULD YOU FORGET US?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
ahem. Just wondering.
I think it's weird that Jack Nicholson has retired. It's not that I miss him, particularly, but reading that he has (supposedly) retired made me realize for the first time that actors, well, they do retire.
I think I probably imagined that they are like royalty: they soldier on until they drop. I may even have thought, secretly, that great actors live forever, like Cary Grant, who's been around all my life and is still in his black haired prime.
I feel slightly cheated.
Volvagia...yes, I do have an ulterior motive with my wild-card system (I'm an actressexual, I can't help myself), but I actually think it is a worthwhile thing to consider...plus, it would make the Oscar prognosticator's job a whole lot harder...hahaha.
Btw, I really loved your post...I didn't even think how it could potentially alleviate the category fraud problem.
My 2015 nominees (with 4 wild cards):
Best Actress:
7 - The nominees plus Mara and Vikander.
Best Actor:
6 - The nominees + Carell.
Best Supporting Actress:
5 - Kate, Jennifer, Rachel, plus Vikander (Ex Machina) and Jane Fonda (Youth).
Best Supporting Actor:
6 - The nominees + Idris.
SoSue: If I were to apply that to my personal ballots last year? Actor: Mitchell, Elba, Isaac, Tremblay, Damon + Cusack and Courteney. Actress: Tomlin, Poehler, Rampling, Ronan, Larson + Theron. Supporting Actor: Hoult, Keaton, Stallone, Elliot, Daniels + Pena. Supporting Actress: Greer, Diaz, Debicki, Winslet and Paulson, no additions. (I'd add 4 to Supporting Actress in 2014. It depends on the year.)
SoSue: If I were to apply that to my personal ballots last year? Actor: Mitchell, Elba, Isaac, Tremblay, Damon + B. Jordan and Cusack. Actress: Tomlin, Poehler, Rampling, Ronan, Larson + Theron. Supporting Actor: Hoult, Keaton, Stallone, Elliot, Daniels + Pena. Supporting Actress: Greer, Diaz, Debicki, Winslet and Paulson, no additions. (I'd add 4 to Supporting Actress in 2014. It depends on the year.)
Whoops, the nominees from my previous post were not my personal faves...this my personal ballot with wild cards (each category is in no particular order):
Actor:
5 - Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation), Ben Mendelsohn (Mississippi Grind), Hanks (BoS), Hardy (Mad Max), Carell (The Big Short)
Actress:
7 - Blanchett, Theron, Daisy Ridley (Star Wars), Melissa McCarthy (Spy), Bel Powley (Diary of...), Kristen Wiig (Welcome to Me), Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Sup. Actor:
6 - Kyle Chandler (Carol), Nicolas Hoult (Mad Max), Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye (Strika in BoNN), Jason Bateman (The Gift), Cusack (Love & Mercy), Alexander Skaarsgard (Diary...)
Sup. Actress:
6 - Vikander (Ex Machina), Rose Byrne (Spy), Raffey Cassidy (Tomorrowland), Deanna Dunagan (The Visit), Rebecca Ferguson (MI5), Susanne Wuest (Goodnight Mommy)
Peggy Sue: interesting to think of what the weirdest/craziest Best Picture winners are. I'd say that Tom Jones is up there, but it's just costumey and period-y enough that you can see the Academy liking it.
My choices for "craziest winners": Midnight Cowboy (even for 1969, that movie was pretty far out), Silence of the Lambs (still no idea how that won - that movie is 0% Oscary), Slumdog Millionaire (an unpretentious high-energy crowdpleaser with no big names), Tom Jones (a send-up of the very type of costume epics that the Academy is known for liking).