Tuesday Top Ten: Melissa McCarthy Line Readings in The Heat

Amir here. For no other reason than to celebrate one of the year’s funniest films -- consider it a Golden Globe FYC -- here’s a top ten list of Melissa McCarthy’s line readings in The Heat.

Rewatching the film, you notice that the humor is much more dialogue based in the first half and situational in the second, but it’s consistently hilarious. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re in for a ride. Without further ado:

10. I got it on eBay. It was supposed to be bigger and different. I’m gonna bad-feedback his ass up.

Yes, one of these items is what she’s talking about!

9. I am balls deep in boredom.
Undeniably the most quotable line in the film.

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Oscar Contenders Stack the Decks at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Glenn here. Rarely discussed by Oscar commentators for reasons unknown to me are the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Held annually on the Gold Coast in Australia, these awards recognise, well, cinema from Asian and Pacific regions. This year's batch of contenders are from a typically diverse group of nations with several high profile Oscar contenders in the mix. Amongst this year's roster of nominees are the foreign language submissions from Palestine (Omar), Iran (The Past), Saudi Arabia (Wadjda), China (Back in 1942), Hong Kong (The Grandmaster), Singapore (Ilo Ilo), New Zealand (White Lies), South Korea (Juvenile Offender) and Kazakhstan (The Old Man) as well as films amongst the long lists for animation (The Wind Rises) and documentary (The Art of Killing). Just imagine if Japan had chosen Like Father Like Son and India had chosen The Lunchbox!

Some history and this year's nominees after the jump.

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Happy Birthday, Leo! (And a Monologue)

Andrew here  to join the Wheeler clan in wishing Leonardo DiCaprio a happy birthday…

…although, he doesn’t seem especially delighted at the well-wishes.

Is that image from Revolutionary Road a dismal birthday scene or what, though? Sometimes I imagine if I had a bloggers' party to celebrate Leo's actorly talents the soiree would be just as dismally attended. Am I wrong?

As odd as it may sound, I often find myself feeling sorry for Leonardo DiCaprio. Sure he's got good-looks, money and the perceived love of millions of fans, yes, but of the actors in his demographic he always seems the least likely to be considered a good actor. If I were to say that he’s my favourite actor under forty, I always expect raised eyebrows in response, and they are generally forthcoming. DiCaprio is not the most diverse actor in his demographic, but I'm often suspicious of attaching quality necessarily to variation. He has specific gifts and even more specific flaws. Many actors are at their best when they exploit their gifts but considering my favourite performance of his for today's monologue, I find I like Leo best when he exploits his flaws.

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Looking back on the 2003 Best Animated Feature nominees

Andrew Stanton with the first of his Animated Feature OscarsTim here. This November, we’ve been reflecting on the films of 2003, in preparation for the newest edition of the Supporting Actress Smackdown, and I’d like to use this as the opportunity to return us all to a simpler time. An easier time. A saner time. A time when the Best Animated Feature category at the Academy Awards wasn’t routinely filled up with five nominees because some much-too-small arbitrary threshold had been reached.

There were three nominees in the category that year, out of a field of eleven. And even that was not quite a small enough number to keep away from something a bit like a filler nomination (looking at the list, the fact that Satoshi Kon could have two eligible titles in Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, and swing a nomination for neither of them, depresses me something fierce). But it’s not a bad mix of films at all, anchored by two films that have survived the intervening decade as bona-fide classics of the medium, and one film that… hasn’t, though it’s clung to an appreciative cult.

Fish, Bear and Other after the jump

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Juliette & George, Together Again

It hadn't even occurred to me that August: Osage County wasn't the first collaboration between George Clooney and Juliette Lewis. Nearly 20 years ago the two starred together in From Dusk till Dawn battling vampires in Texas with Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel and a python-loving Salma Hayek. A lot has changed since then and it's doubtful you'd find either making a gory horror flick again, but it was nice to see Lewis post this photo of the pair on Instagram. 

I killed vampires w this guy in 95 and now he's one of the producers of #AugustOsageCounty And still… http://t.co/1ql4xsRJdx

— Juliette Lewis (@JulietteLewis) November 11, 2013

As an aside, how glad do you think Clooney is that The Momunents Men got booted into 2014 and so doesn't have to spend months promoting it for awards season alongside August and Gravity? 

As a secondary aside, will Juliette Lewis have her own Dallas Buyers Club soon? A role that, like Jared Leto's this year, makes audiences remember that she was once an incredible actor who just couldn't find a spot in the Hollywood system and so turned to rock music? I can only hope so!

As a third aside, don't we all look forward to Nathaniel's thoughts on August once he returns from AFI Fest? I know I do!