Reader Spotlight: John from Boston

Continuing the Reader Appreciation Series, here's a conversation with John (pictured left) from Boston. He's been reading the site ever since it launched and hearing that warms the cockles of my heart. Loyalty is definite top ten top three material as character traits go, don't you think?

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first movie?
JOHN: I think my first movie was Cinderella.  I was so frightened of the evil stepmother that we had to leave early.  When I was young, every movie scared me.  I didn’t sleep for years after E.T.  (yet somehow/somewhere I became obsessed with this medium).

First movie obsession?
Probably Clue.  I remember renting it when I was home from school with chicken pox in fifth grade.  I probably watched it 10 times in one weekend.  It is so campy, but so utterly entertaining.  …and what a cast!!!  Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock and Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White are classic!  I still bust that one out every once and a while.

I love that one, too. Mrs. White is the best in the movie but when I play the game though I am always Professor Plum or Miss Scarlet.

Mrs Peacock and Mrs. White

 Okay, you're suddenly in charge of the cinema for a year. How do you wield this awesome power?

• Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore have to make at least 2 movies together
• Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock are put on one year hiatus (Meg Ryan would be too, but what the hell has she done lately)
• No sequels
• No Oscar campaigns
• I decide all Oscar nominees and winners

Heh. Okay. Who are your three favorite actresses?
JULIANNE MOORE is the God to whom I pray.  I saw her receive the Hasty Pudding award in February.  She cannot be more awesome.  There are too many awe-inspiring performances to name.  JUDI DENCH continues to amaze me.  I thought she could only be the strong, comic matriarch until she blew me away in Notes on a Scandal.  MERYL STREEP is a given.  She is so perfect every time out that I take her for granted.  If she doesn’t win a third Oscar sometime soon there is no justice.  Katharine Hepburn, Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie and Angela Bassett get special recognition.

Take one Oscar away from someone. Give it to someone else.
I can’t only do one here.  I have to take advantage of the moment.  I would go back to 1958 and give Susan Hayward’s Oscar for I Want to Live! to Rosalind Russell for Auntie Mame. Auntie Mame is my all time favorite and Russell is so spot-on.  One of the best comic performances ever!  Second, in 2005, I would take Reese Witherspoon’s Oscar for Walk the Line and give it to Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger.  It is a major travesty that this performance was not even nominated (Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice…what was the Academy thinking?). That was definitely Allen’s best--better than her three Oscar-nominated, which are all fantastic. 

2005's Film Bitch Gold Medalist Joan Allen has other fans. She shoulda won the Oscar.

Finally, I would take Kim Basinger’s 1997 Supporting Actress win for L.A. Confidential and give it to Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights.  This is my third choice because I still have faith that Juli will win one day.

Have you ever dressed up as a film character for Halloween? Has a film character ever dressed as you?
Like so many others in the past, I was tighty whitey clad Tom Cruise in Risky Business two years ago for Halloween.  I had the right hair at the moment .  He’s not a film character, but Matthew Morrison’s Will Schuester definitely raided my tie/cardigan collection.

Okay John. Let's wrap up. The movie of your life. Tell us about it.
Stephen Daldry would direct the movie of my life starring James Franco (I am not scarred enough by the Oscar gig to not cast him).  The movie is part Seasons 1-3 of Brothers and Sisters, part Mean Girls, part Into the Wild, part Latter Days, part The Devil Wears Prada, part…

So many parts!

Previous Spotlights

James Bond's Black Rose

Andreas here with today's May Flowers.

Look at my garden. Out there, there is a b-b-black rose. Not dark red, but black—as a raven's wing at midnight.

David Niven, as the first of many James Bonds in the mega-spoof Casino Royale (1967), manages a surprisingly sentimental moment as he gushes over his beloved, unique flower. It's his proudest possession, and a symbol of his self-imposed isolation. Unfortunately, the flower (and his home) are about to be destroyed, forcing him out into this frantic, incomprehensible mess of a movie.

Are you acquainted with the old Casino Royale and its bizarre sense of humor? Trying to describe it is like recounting a fever dream: Well, Orson Welles was there doing card tricks, and Peter O'Toole plays the bagpipe, and Woody Allen has a flying saucer, and most of the characters are 007. Now I'm not even sure it exists anymore...

Box Office: The Slightly Mighty Thor

Thor discovers he isn't as strong as he looksOnline coverage of weekend box office is often dry, repetitive and facty. We respond to it as we do to sports stats, with curiousity that people care so much. This week is slightly different. Thor's box office take is actually a case study in how flexible numbers are, how perception is everything. FACT: Thor did not break box office records, did less impressive numbers than many summer heroes (if you want a comparison he's slightier mightier than The Incredible Hulk or Fantastic Four but far far weaker than Iron Man -- which no one remembers that people were  nervous about in terms of audience interest until the trailer arrived since history tends to rewrite itself after huge successes -- or Wolverine and such. FACT #2 Just last week, Fast Five was a bigger draw with less of a marketing push in a franchise you'd think would be weakening. Yet many online reports, or at least the headlines, were all about Thor's "super" box office weekend or how it "hammered", "smashed" and "crushed" its competition or somesuch.  LESSON LEARNED: the web roots for superheroes like young children clap for fairies in Peter Pan, in a show of enthusiastic solidarity.

USELESS FACT #3 The theater I saw it in had no more than 20ish people in it. Admittedly it was a morning show and for some reason people don't go to movies in the morning (Why not? Start the day off right!) but still... opening day.

The Box Office (Actuals)

01 THOR new $65.7 [my review]
02 FAST FIVE  $32.4 (cumulative $139.7)
03 JUMPING THE BROOM new $15.2
04 SOMETHING BORROWED new $13.9
05 RIO $8.5 (cumulative $115.2)

The success story of the weekend is Jumping the Broom; it's opening take was more than double its budget! FACT #3 I really wanted to see it given the Loretta Devine / Angela Bassett face off. But then I saw the trailer. Interest dwindled.

In other box office news, the new limited releases had a really difficult time: The Beaver and Last Night failed to find much of an audience despite big stars in the lead roles. If you have big stars who are typically bigger box office shouldn't you risk a wider opening with more advertisements? It seems strange that a movie starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster is going to make less than a period piece with no typically bankable names like The Conspirator (which opened much much wider). Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff, just discussed on the podcast, is also having a rough time. It's up to just $200,000. That's more than Wendy & Lucy (the previous Reichardt/Michelle Williams combo) had made at this point but the per screen average is much lower indicating it will probably not have that earlier film's very sturdy legs despite similarly ecstatic reviews. Wendy & Lucy neared the million dollar mark at the end of its long run.

What did you see over the weekend?

Reminder: Pedro & Antonio Cometh

I know I've been terrible about Hit Me With Your Best Shot lately but this Wednesday night we'll be celebrating the long time collaboration of Pedro & Antonio in Matador (1986) and Law of Desire (1987) -- take your pick as to which film you'll cover if you're joining us!

In the meantime enjoy this Cannes teaser for THE SKIN I LIVE IN

and here's some on the set footage for the extra curious among you (these props... que???). It's in Spanish but some of you will undoubtedly understand.

We might do a Yes, No, Maybe So when the full trailer arrives but it will all be reflexive as we're always a boisterous expectant "Sí" when a new Almodóvar rolls into town.

Podcast: Meek's Cutoff, Early Cinephilia

In an effort to bring you more podcasts, I'm going to be switching up the guest lists, for a hopefully rotating panel. So for this week's podcast we have three first time guests: Kurt (Your Movie Buddy), Michael (Serious Film and Unsung Heroes) and Robert ("Distant Relatives") and yours truly, Nathaniel.

Topics include:

• Kelly Reichardt's invisible storytelling and Meek's Cutoff
• Is Michelle Williams America's Tilda Swinton?
• Robert Pattison and Water for Elephants
• Cinephilia: When did it begin for our guests? How do their significant others deal with their movie obsessiveness?

As always the conversation can include more voices. Join us in the comments.

Podcast: Meek's Cutoff, Water For Elephants