Showbiz History: Superman's premiere, Middle Earth's arrival, Bollywood's physique
Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 10:00AM Six random things that happened on this day, December 10th, in showbiz history
1966 "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys, considered on of the most influential and important compositions of the rock era, hits #1. Remember when Paul Dano did such amazing work playing Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson in the biopic Love & Mercy (2015) and then got such a shabby awards season response (though at least we nominated him here!)?
Superman met President Jimmy Carter on this day in 1978!
1978 Superman: The Movie had a charity gala world premiere in Washington DC (the first of a few glitzy events before opening in theaters on the 15th). You can see a lot of great archived material from Superman's various premieres at the Caped Wonder website. The movie was an instant smash hit and basically birthed the superhero blockbuster.
1999 The Green Mile and Cider House Rules both open in theaters, crashing the Oscar buzz party and hogging plentiful nominations (including 40% of the Best Picture race) in a really unfortunate Oscar year. Funny how it happens that exceptional film years (as most people agree 1999 was) often results in the worst Oscar seasons as if too-much-of-a-good-thing causes mass confusion and suppresses the good-taste vote.
2001 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring premieres in London with virtually the entire cast present. What wonders were in store for all of us in movie theaters over the for the next three years of December openings.
2010 The Tourist starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp opens in theaters. Today that particular dud is arguably best remembered for the scandal of those three unjustifiable Golden Globe nominations in "Musical or Comedy" that happened a few days later, even though the movie wasn't a musical or comedy AND everyone thought it was bad. I've been known to defend the Globes on occassion but every once in a while they'll do something like that to give more than ample ammunition to their haters.
2021 Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story is set to open in movie theaters exactly a year from today! We've written about the remake a few times and the original in depth here at TFE so you can explore that tag if you so desire.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 40th to Bollywood action star Vidyut Jammwal (Junglee, Force, and the Commando franchise) who like seemingly 90% of Bollywood's top male stars, loves to show off the body that's surely a full time job in and of itself to maintain.
Other showbiz people to ❤️ who were born on this day
Former would be Olivier 2.0 Kenneth Branagh, hunky Australian actor Xavier Samuels (Love and Friendship, Adore) who is in the two biggest biopics next year (Blonde and 'Untitled Elvis') in supporting roles, The Informer's Oscar winning Victor McLaglen, The Green Mile's Michael Clarke Duncan, The Sand Pebbles' Oscar nominated Mako, Saronged beauty Dorothy Lamour, underrated character actress Fionnula Flanagan, and that's so Raven-Symoné.
Reader Comments (21)
What other uncommonly rich cinematic years resulted in subpar Oscar nominations? 2004 comes to mind.
On another note, those Golden Globe nods for THE TOURIST continue to baffle me to this day. Both the category placement and the honors themselves are beyond absurd. Also, that was the year Depp got two Best Actor nominations at the Globes, for this and ALICE IN WONDERLAND, two of the worst performances of his career.
Nathaniel, thanks for calling out the 1999 Oscar race. So true! The Green Mile and The Cider House Rules are both colossal turkeys...I remember being mystified at both of them catching on against much better competition. I mean, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Election, Three Kings, Fight Club, and The Matrix were all RIGHT THERE...and all of those films are talked about and beloved twenty years later. Who talks about GM and CHR?
Some of those Bollywood men really are just so... burly and swoony.
1999 was the year of The Sixth Sense, right? That was the one I wanted to win out of all the nominees because I considered it a superior genre film worthy of winning, much like I thought E.T. should have won in 1982 even though it wasn't my personal favorite of the nominees (that would be Tootsie, itself almost a top of its genre example).
And I think my Bollywood knowledge fandom is stuck in the Hrithik Roshan/Arjun Rampal (sp?) era. I admit I'm partial to Bollywood musicals, not so much action, so I stopped paying so much attention. These photos have piqued my interest again. ;-)
Totally agree with the 1999 Oscar hate. Add Being John Malkovich to the snub pile as well, but at least it got Spike a Best Director nod.
On the flip side, 2007 -- probably the next-best-year for cinema after 1999 in recent memory -- got a relatively decent Best Pic lineup. While I may not have nominated those exact 5 films, they're all solid-to-classic without embarrassment. I'd rank them as:
There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Michael Clayton
Juno
Atonement
Peter Jackson’s films are undervalued and there are triumphant successes
the Oscar traction for THE CIDER HOUSE RULES and CHOCOLAT continue to baffle me to this very day.
Man Harvey Weinstein and Miramax really cast a spell over Oscar in the 90's/early 00's
I don't think The Green Mile and the Cider House Rules are colossal turkeys. I think they both have elements worthy of commendation, but they're both just obviously underwhelming considering the absolute embarrassment of riches in 1999.
Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia!!
Bollywood has its own Bradley Cooper: Hrithik Roshan.
LOVE & MERCY was all about Elizabeth Banks, who should have been nominated and won!
Love & Mercy was a movie I loved but forgot about. Same year as Strait Outta Compton where Giamatti played an evil music exec.
The green mile was good and underwhelming. Never seen cider House Rules. The green mile, I think Michael Clarke Duncan was a sentimental prisoner asking if he could turn the light on. Tom Hanks not one of his best roles but this was a dark one for him playing a law enforcement warden/cop
The Tourist is the reason why the Golden Globes continued to be shit on. It's the poor man's Oscar/Emmy.
I was just about to turn 10, and I DID believe a Man Could Fly!
If you have not already noticed, some of these Bollywood hunks are only top-heavy, which means their legs are pretty skinny compared to their upper halves.
This first Superman is such a breezy delight. Superhero movies have become so dark and sour now. Seemingly they've forgotten that they are supposed to be escapist fare. Christopher Reeve was such a perfect fit for Clark Kent.
I love Cider House Rules. It changes the story of the book quite a lot but for me still captured its essence. Were there better movies this year? Probably, but it was one of the ones I enjoyed the most.
Best article on the front page. Keep it up!
Jonathan : thought she was great as well. And they should have campaigned Dano in Lead Actor.
Marcus - It's like if they left the same assembly line with the same defects and qualities.
1999 0scar nominations were pitiful. Matt Damon should have been in there for Ripley. Magnolia had multiple acclaimed performances, specifically Philip Seymour Hoffman (also great in Ripley) and Jason Robards. Steve Zahn was snubbed for Happy Texas. Charles Dutton also snubbed for Cookie’s Fortune, as were Patricia Neal and Glenn Close. Oh, and Julianne Moore could’ve been a double nominee. Then there were the 5 Tea With Mussolini dames/divas (Plowright so sweet). And most embarrassing of all - The Green Mile, The Sixth Sense and Cider House Rules all in Best Picture was ludicrous. Though I normally worship at the house of Streep, I was a little embarrassed by her nod for Music of the Heart. Jolie winning for wearing a fright wig and slithering around was unintentionally hilarious. Keener, Morton and Sevigny all robbed. The only worthy acting win was Swank. One for the ages. And don’t even get me started on Caine winning over Jude Law. One of the worst choices of that decade.