Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 5:40PM 
I didn't want publicity. I didn't want to go into any of this then or now.
Is that all?"
Faye Dunaway, Oscars (70s) Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 1:15PM During Summer 2011 -- winding down at last! -- we've been asking TFE readers to choose the most memorable Best Actress nominated film characters. Which film characters have you taken into your hearts and headspace most fully? Who is always popping into mind unbidden? Below are the latest voting results for August's polls covering the 1960s & 1970s (previous results: 1980s and 1991-2010). We used five year intervals for voting and asked readers to choose the 5 most memorable characters from each group of 25 Oscar nominees.
If you're looking for these polls to provide a "face" of an era it looks like Julie Andrews wins the early 60s -- she was thoroughly modern back then! -- and Faye Dunaway takes over from there for a long run at the top (1966-1980) [* indicates that it was an Oscar winning role.]
1961-1965
Runners Up: Though the top five were never in question, DEANIE LOOMIS from Splendor in the Grass, ALMA BROWN* from Hud (who also tied) and DIANA SCOTT*, the "sunshine girl" from Darling each had deep pockets of swoony admirers. The remaining two top ten'ers, further back in voting were MARY TYRONE from Long Day's Journey Into Night, and CESIRA* from Two Women.
Observations: The Julie Andrews characters flip-flopped for the first week of voting until Mary took flight and left Maria behind on the hilltop. Baby Jane tried everything to kick Maria off the mountain: writing letters to daddy, rat dinners, actual kicking; a very tight race that was for third place and in the end they tied. Aside from Audrey's win, there was little consensus.
Geraldine Page finds "pure hard gold" in boytoy Paul Newman in Sweet Bird of Youth
I was disappointed at the lack of substantial votes for Natalie Wood's preggers single gal in Love With the Proper Stranger and Geraldine Page's bitch goddess superstar in Sweet Bird of Youth (though the latter almost cracked the top ten) but voting was all over the place in this round.
Weakest Showing: No actresses suffered the "no votes" problem in this half decade grouping, but ALMA from Summer and Smoke, JANE FOSSETT from The L Shaped Room and MARGARET HAMMOND from This Sporting Life barely found any favor.
1966-1970
still in her prime.Runners Up: update. whoops. I misread the chart. Maggie Smith's Oscar winning haughty schoolmarm actually tied with Hepburn's Lion in Winter character in the last couple of days of voting. I had missed that! What a relief, Miss Jean Brodie, still being in her prime!] The remaining four players in the top ten are as follows: GLORIA BEATTY danced as fast as she could for 7th place for They Shoot Horses Don't They? Then with far fewer votes came, JENNIFER CAVALLERI from Love Story, SUSY HENDRIX from Wait Until Dark and CHRISTINA DRAYTON* from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Observations: This was the closest the top spot has ever come to a tie with seductive Mrs. Robinson besting drunk Martha by just 2% of votes gathered. In other kindred spirit news, they're both fond of playing "get the guest".
This is also the closest your votes have ever aligned with the Academy's decisions as four of your top five actually winning the gold for their indelible creations and another top ten'er, too. The further back we go the more obvious it is which films are not readily available for home viewing and how much Oscar wins are worth for longevity. It's an easy way to draw people backwards to see old films. But about the availability of some films... I've said it many times but I'll have to keep saying it. Hollywood is a shameful place. It's an industry with gazillions of dollars in profits and far too few of those bucks get funnelled back into the art form to insure that films are preserved and/or available for the public. At the very least an Oscar nomination ought to mean that your film never disappears for good.
Weakest Showing: "Mary Wilson" from Happy Ending received 0% of the votes. The film is not available on DVD. Morgan!'s "Leonie Delt" and "Rosy Ryan" from Ryan's Daughter just barely escaped this fate.
1971-1975
Runners Up: the rest of the top ten in descending order were BREE DANIELS* Klute, MABEL LONGHETTI A Woman Under the Influence, and KATIE MOROSKY The Way We Were, CONSTANCE MILLER McCabe and Mrs Miller and ADELE The Story of Adele H.
Jane Fonda as "Bree" in KluteObservations: This five year period surprised me the most of all the polls in terms of how well various women fared. Ellen Burstyn is a national treasure but I wasn't expecting either of her roles to show up in the top five, let alone both of them! It seems to me that her past star would not shine as bright without that shocking resurrection that was Requiem for a Dream (2000). Let that be a lesson to all actresses. Don't give up when you've crossed the senior citizen mark. An acclaimed golden years performance can restore major luminosity to to your earlier shining successes. Speaking of which, Jane Fonda could use one final hurrah performance herself to remind people of what an irreplaceable actress she is. I was personally very disappointed to see her Klute performance outside the top five (It was a narrow miss but it shocked me. I'd rank it among the ten best actress performances of all time). But the #8 rank for Barbra's famous romantic heroine from The Way We Were was the biggest lower-than-expect shocker and at the very least it suggests that Carrie Bradshaw was definitely not voting on these polls.
Weakest Showing: Marsha Mason's "Maggie Paul" from Cinderella Liberty received no votes with the little seen these days "Gitl" from Hester Street nearly meeting the same fate.
1976-1980
Runners Up: the rest of the top ten in descending order was composed of bad mommy BETH JARRETT from Ordinary People, Goldie Hawn's PRIVATE BENJAMIN, Bette Midler's MARY ROSE FOSTER from The Rose, delusional beige EVE from Interiors and "Yo, ADRIAN" from Rocky just barely knocked Gena Rowland's GLORIA and Ingrid Bergman's CHARLOTTE ANDERGAST of the ring to nab spot #10.
Observations: I was surprised to see Mary Tyler Moore's legendary Bad Mommy performance in Ordinary People outside the top five but she was just one or two votes shy of making it a three way tie with the two biographical performances ahead of her. 
Marsha... no one is on the line!Weakest Showing: Marsha Mason's "Jenny Maclaine" in Chapter Two received no votes. I thought about voting for this character myself but there were too many other strong options. I used to just love that movie though I have only the dimmest recall of it now so I couldn't say "most memorable!". Mason was a very hot Oscar commodity for a few short years but none of her characters have done well in the polls indicating that her films have either not aged well for one reason or another or people just haven't seen them or, most likely, some combination of both. Is it time for some enterprising young director to take her on as a project: Marsha Mason revival!
This is a lot to process, I know. Any surprises, disappointments or observations you want to share? Have you been inspired to add any of these pictures to your rental queues?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 2:36PM 
<-- Coffee Table Book Alert!
Photographer Tim Palen has immortalized the bodies of Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton for a coffee table book called "The Men of Warrior" that's out on August 9th (available for pre-sale now here or here). The book as we imagine it -- all we've seen is this cover -- is a smart marketing movie for the Warrior film in which the two fine actors play two sparring brothers. Obviously people will see this for the muscle abuse alone, yes? That's why people go to boxing matches, right? I don't know. I'd never go to one -- too bloody/sadistic for me -- but I'd happily look at photos. The book has a foreward by Tom Hardy and (presumably) a ton of pictures of him.
Links in the Ring
Kenneth in the (212) Have you heard about this Faye Dunaway / NYC apartment eviction story.
My New Plaid Pants attends the Wet Hot American Summer anniversary party. We were just celebratin' that.
GLAAD the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ranks the TV networks on their LGBT inclusive. Top marks for CW and... ABC Family? How weird. who'da thunk it? Not that you can always trust GLAAD. They've made some weird suspect calls over the years. Showtime has a smidgeon more gay representation than HBO among premium channels.
Film Dr has some questions for those of you who have seen Cowboys and Aliens
aqui tinha a truth
Empire Steve McQueen's Shame starring Michael Fassbender has a UK release date (Jan 13th) still no word on the American release after its TIFF bow.
Alt Screen no way! Lost silent Alfred Hitchcock film The White Shadow (1923) discovered/restored. Sort of.
The Critical Condition the ultimate pop song tournament continues into the second round. I like the second round less because I'm sure this is where all of my favorites start losing. Like "Edge of Seventeen" being bested by "Livin' on a Prayer" (thus far). That is so unright.
My New Plaid Pants which is hotter: Dominic Cooper or a Boston Terrier?
Monday, May 16, 2011 at 9:31PM 
Jane Fonda. She Knows She Rules.Last time on red carpet lineup Kurt and Nathaniel chatted about the annual Met Gala. This time out, Jose and Nathaniel are discussing the first few days of Cannes international fashion parade. Find out which actress Nathaniel is starting a religion to worship and which audition tape Jose dreams of seeing.
Nathaniel: Hello Jose. I must know. Before I throw dresses at you if you've been following Cannes 64 at all?
Jose: Hi! Well yes, but mostly for the dresses actually, considering most of us mortals never get to see all those movies they talk about over there.
Nathaniel: So though you're a cinephile, for Cannes you're rather like the very casual Oscar watcher then?
It being all about the gowns?
Jose: Sadly, yes. I blame distributors!
Nathaniel: The perfect scapegoat.
Jose: At least they can't take fashion away from us.
Nathaniel: True. Or movie stars for that matter. Even when the movies aren't there anymore you're still a legend for the purposes of the red carpet. Like Faye Dunaway...
FAN BINGBING, MAIWENN LE BESCO, FAYE DUNAWAY, SJP, PENELOPE CRUZ
Jose: I love that they're paying tribute to her in Cannes.
Nathaniel: It does feel like a reevaluation is coming. Or at least a revival. Even Mommie Dearest... you don't hear people dissing that performance anymore so much as voicing the theory that gonzo acting ruined her career.
Jose: Absolutely, but I think she'll do more serious work. She's even quoting Meryl Streep in interviews!
Nathaniel: I don't know enough about fashion to know what type of dress this is but gossamer modest flowy light things always make me think of ghosts in Victorian mansions... or Stevie Nicks. Who is also back!
Jose: Faye looks so graceful. Stevie rocks! But I think the new queen of ghost wear is that Florence from the Machine lady.
Nathaniel: This is the part of most celebrity discussions where I would start singing
the dog days are over
the dog days are done
can you hear the horses
because here they come
and then someone would snark about Sarah Jessica Parker.
BUT we both like SJP. So there.
Jose: "Like"? I'm obsessed with her! People can say whatever they want about her face and Sex and the City but the woman is a red carpet visionary! This Elie Saab dress is proof of that. I love how she's been trying to bring back the 70s lately (with her in charge of Halston and everything...)
Nathaniel: I will say that this dress looks MUCH better in motion than it does in a still photograph. Because here it look just... too much. Too much fabric for a tiny diva. But she definitely is a risk-taker. And bringing back the 70s is going well for her if red carpet looks from other women are to be believed.
Jose: Maybe she was paying tribute to Faye. too?
Nathaniel: I hope everyone is with her face plastered on all the posters. Incidentally she wore this dress to the premiere of Peter Chan's Wu Xia and the only unfortunate thing about inviting international fashion icons to your premiere is that your stars get ignored.
Jose: Smart move in case everyone hates the movie, no?
Nathaniel: Well sure but this movie stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Kara Hui and Tang Wei and I haven't seen one photo of any of them, yet. And they were there as this video proves!!!
Jose: Maybe they were hiding from the cameras under Sarah's ample dress.
Nathaniel: Heh. One thing that happens with celebrity photo feeds is if someone of SJP's fashion stature shows to any "smaller" event, the event is often completely ignored. Even in the headlines. It's weird.
Jose: Shh, don't say that, people will hear you and SJP won't be invited to things anymore! I had no idea Tang Wei was in new movies. I had started to assume she'd pulled off a Falconetti on us and retired after Lust, Caution.
Fan Bingbing at the "The Tree of Life" premiereNathaniel: I always include Fan Bingbing in red carpet lineups because she really wears a deep groove in the Cannes carpet each year. I can't imagine the size of her luggage. How do you ship entire closets?
Jose: I have no idea what this woman does for a living but being beautiful seems to be enough.
Nathaniel: She's an actress, silly. I ignore the models and celebutantes, even when I like what they're wearing.
Jose: She was featured in every option of a "Best Dressed in Cannes" poll, the other day. Maybe entire fleets carry her dresses?
Nathaniel: She never seems to repeat colors styles fabrics. I think maybe mice and birds sew her into custom-made gowns each evening.
Jose: Magic! Must be hard being under so much sartorial pressure. No wonder she rarely smiles...
Nathaniel: I had to include Mäiwenn Le Besco (Crouching Tigress) in the photo above.
Jose: Crouching Tigress, Obvious Drunkard! Girls seems to be enjoying her champagne. Who does that on a red carpet?
Mäiwenn ... actress, director, Diva PlavalagunaNathaniel: Heh. Maybe she's reminding everyone that she wields cameras these days. I saw her last movie The Actress' Ball and it was extremely self-indulgent but also intermittently hilarious and obsessed with actressing so I respect her. When I was interviewing Ludivine Sagnier last month that movie even came up.
I'm always secretly thrilled when Mäiwenn shows anywhere because I love explaning to people that she's the blue opera diva from The Fifth Element and shocking them. Bam! Are you freaked?
Jose: VERY. I always assumed that was a man!
I can't believe you're not letting me talk about Pé yet.
Nathaniel: Your wish is granted.
Jose: Sigh. Nat, I kid you not. I didn't want her to do Cannes because I was afraid she'd disappoint me. Mrs. Bardem has been doing some weird ass red carpet choices, post baby Leo. But I'm actually in love with this.
At first I thought she'd gone all out on Cannes (they love nudity there) and actually had had people paste tiny rocks and fabrics to her body.
Nathaniel: Split opinion here. I think this color is three kinds of wrong on her. I'm not fond of nudity unless it's actually nudity.
Cannes, Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda, Melanie Laurent, Red Carpet Lineup, SJP, Uma Thurman Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 5:31PM In honor of Sidney Lumet who passed away this weekend, we're re-publishing The Film Experience retrospective on Network from a few years ago. It's new to some of you!
One Angry Man
One thing I suspect about director Sidney Lumet: He liked his drama super-sized, Empire State Building big. No 800 lbs gorillas in the room please, make it King Kong. Give them 16 tons of drama. Lumet wanted grunting, sweating, lunging, screaming, gargantuan desperate drama like the kind you get in Dog Day Afternoon, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and Serpico. Never mind 12 Angry Men. How about 1 Angry Man, Sidney Lumet, and in the case of Network -- arguably his best film -- one angry fictional man named Howard Beale (Peter Finch). Network eventually gets around to naming Beale the “mad prophet of the airwaves” but it’s also a self descriptive tag. The movie is mad as hell and prophetic, too. Network is Howard Beale and Howard Beale is Network. This impressively large but also miniature film --it's not hard to imagine it as a stage play -- swings wildly from mood to mood like its bipolar madman.
A lot of movies steal from Network but I love the borrowing that Network does right out of the gate, in omniscient detached voiceover.
In his time Howard Beale had been a mandarin of television. The grand old man of news with a hot rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969 however his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year his wife died and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share.
We're in the boredom killing business.
That puts us in the shithouse. That's where that puts us.
Network is an easy film to quote and its super sculpted and scalding dialogue is undoubtedly the reason why the screenplay (by triple Oscar winner Paddy Chayefsky) is so lauded. It’s the type of talky feature that's jerry-rigged to draw attention to its themes, BIG ideas, diamond hard one liners and showcased monologues. But words aside, the plotting is also tight and strong. I can’t think of a single film that’s more interested in stopping for speeches that also moves with breakneck speed through the twists and turns of its various plots.
Plot A: Howard Beale threatens to kill himself on air, leading to rubberneck ratings jumps and corporate exploitation of his sudden insanity. As Beale slips deeper into a complete psychotic break, corporate sharks Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) and Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) start swimming, devouring the smaller fish at the network like Max Schumacher, as they try to capitalize on Beale's popularity with the public who embraces his catchphrase:
I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!
