Miyazaki To Retire (Again)

Anne Marie here, with some news I have been trying desperately to ignore all weekend: Hayao Miyazaki is officially retiring. It's worth noting that this isn't the first time the master animator has announced his retirement. But each time he threatens to leave, a little color goes out of the world.

My feelings at this exact moment.

Miyazaki is one of those unique artists who sees the extraordinary in the ordinary, and draws from a seemingly inexhaustable wellspring of imagination. My favorite film is Princess Mononoke only because it was the first Miyazaki film I saw, and I was thus completely overwhelmed by the movie.

What's your favorite Miyazaki film? Do you fear this retirement is the permanent one?

Team Top Ten: Biggest Awards Season Flops

Amir here, to bring you our newest edition of Team Top Ten. Festival season is in full force. Telluride just wrapped. Venice is going strong. And in just two days, Toronto will set the awards season ablaze (Nathaniel and I will be there covering the flames). So we thought we’d vote on something that captures the spirit of the season.

Sort of.

Looking ahead at this point, there are a lot of films that look like surefire Oscar contenders. Inevitably, some of them will miss out on nomination morning, but at this very moment, everyone’s got their hopes high. Even in a year where unfortunate circumstances led to widespread discussion of racism in America, one can’t expect Mandela, 12 Years a Slave, Lee Daniels' The Butler AND Fruitvale Station to be nominated, but all four films are certainly gunning for it. So has been the story with many films in the past couple of decades, since the Oscars became the most glamorous political race on the planet and the Weinstein’s at Miramax supercharged awards campaigning.  

We’re looking back today at the films of the past 25 years – let’s call it the Campaigning Era – that looked like major Oscar players this far out in the year, or hell, even five minutes before nominations were announced in some cases, but failed to make a dent of any size. This is Team Experience’s Top Ten Awards Season Flops. Note that this is not a qualitative judgment - some stank, some were superb. But, for one reason or another, they fell short of what The Golden Man deems "Best". In simple terms – borrowed from Team Experience member, Nick Davis – these are the ten films that have the largest gap between their Oscar hopes and their Oscar outcomes. Without further ado… 

Bobby and 9 more dashed-hopefuls after the jump...

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Oh No Not Alain Delon

JA from MNPP here with some upsetting news - famed French beauty Alain Delon (who I could have sworn was openly bisexual way back in the day) has spoken out against homosexuality in France, calling it "unnatural" and saying that men "are here to love a woman, to woo a woman, not to flirt with or get picked up by guys." French writer Claude Serraute hysterically responded, “It is against nature to love yourself as much as he does.” Anyway Delon says he doesn't give a damn about gay marriage, but that he's against the adoption of children by gay couples.

Am I going to have to burn my copy of Purple Noon now, you guys? I really don't want to burn my copy of Purple Noon. And Rocco and His Brothers! I loved that shower scene so much. And what to do about my cherished memories of the way he and Jean-Paul Belmondo were always hanging on each other? Am I supposed to forget all that? This is a travesty. With one bigoted pile of big-mouth bullcrap so many of my favorite movie fantasies have been dashed. Damn him. It's like how I can't watch Contempt anymore without thinking of Brigitte Bardot's homophobic comments. Can old French actors just shut up and stop ruining classics? At least we'll always have Saint Deneuve. (Oh wait.)

Morning Truth Tell: All Hospitals Need Thelma Ritter

Don't be alarmed but I spent last night in the Emergency Room*. It won't surprise you to hear that they continue to be horrible nightmare places.

One woman had been there for 9 hours when we walked in and had yet to be treated. She was crying her eyes out and dizzy with  'is this real life? will i ever leave this room?' kind of existential despair. It did not bode well for the rest of the visit.

Because few things are treated like emergencies in emergency room, you're left waiting for hours for any kind of human interaction let alone problem solving. Your mind has plenty of time to wander (harmless and unavoidable) and horribilize (harmful and likely when you're in pain). I kept thinking of Thelma Ritter's "Clancy" . Sometimes all you need is someone to hear your out, put a hand on your shoulder, and talk you through it. Someone to fetch a distracted doctor with a prescription pad at least. Nobody was doing that!!! Every hospital needs a Thelma Ritter. Thirty of them, even, but they're in short supply.

Live this truth. Be your best Thelma Ritter for a loved one who needs you this week. Offer a firm kind hand and listening ear. When needed set your internal timer to redirect their self-pity if it gets out of hand. Be that steadying Supporting presence. You won't win an Oscar for it, true, but public adulation isn't everything. Private gratitude is also golden.

*I am fine. As you may have figured, I was playing the poor man's Thelma Ritter role in this scenario. It's harder than it looks!

Curio: All Three Flavors

Alexa here. It may not be Krzysztof Kieślowski, but Edgar Wright's now-completed three-flavor trilogy also had a pretty positive critical response. Then there's the fan base, who devour every tweet from Simon Pegg with more gusto than a hung-over Ed licks a Cornetto.  So Wright has done the inevitable, setting up a tumblr for updates and for the ever-growing collection of fan art.

Here are some samples.

Little Cornetto books by Joey Spiotto.

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