James Caan (1940-2022)

by Nathaniel R

autographed photo -- for sale here

Oscar nominated screen legend James Caan died yesterday evening at the age of 82. The news came via his official twitter account. His uncommonly masculine star persona was often deployed for menace but his charisma read 'leading man' even though that mode happened less often. His career was marked by stratospheric highs, major lows, and some degree of ambivalence; He regularly turned down roles (including several that became iconic for his peers) in both movies and on television. He's best remembered today primarily for two pieces of art, the gangster epic The Godfather (1972) and the fan/artist thriller Misery (1990). They don't paint the whole picture of that expansive career though which began in the early the early Sixties and and will stretch into next year. He completed one picture, set for 2023, a darkly comic crime/action movie starring Pierce Brosnan (with Caan playing his mob boss) based on the novel Gun Monkeys. He also did some filming for a sheriff role in a crime drama called Redemption though we don't know if he had completed his work there. 

After the jump a selection of 10 key roles to understand his career if you'd like to program your own Jimmy Caan film festival at home...

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News Catch-up: Honorary Oscars, "Barbie", and RIPs

by Nathaniel R

Peter Weir, picture here on the set of "The Truman Show", will receive an Honorary Oscar in November. © Paramount Pictures

We had intended for June to be our freshly energized new season but that fantasized new season here at TFE had its own mind and said "no no no, maybe July". Neverthless before June ends, a rundown on stories we haven't discussed in the early summer lull. 

HONORARY OSCARS
First things first you have probably heard that the Honorary Oscar recipients were announced...

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SoCal Journalism Nominees 2022

by Nathaniel R

Congratulations to the journalists, critics, and cultural commentators nominated for the 64th annual SoCal Journalism Awards (mostly for articles from 2021). The winners will be announced on June 25th. You probably read some of the people! There are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of categories covering all fields, but we thought you might like seeing some that are related to screen entertainment. So after the jump, seven of those categories...

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William Hurt (1950-2022)

by Nathaniel R

Hurt as I remember him.

I read with total shock yesterday the news that William Hurt had passed away of cancer. There's something about growing up watching famous actors that ties your own ideas about time to their legacy, however loosely. When I heard the news I thought "Noooo he was so young!" before realizing that he was just shy of his 72nd birthday and not the handsome entirely fictional thin-haired 40something actor that I realized I pictured him as, a slightly aged version of his smoldering but callow young beauty, perhaps informed by the wearier sinister bald character actor of his later years. But William Hurt was actually 71 when cancer took him. So why had William Hurt become frozen in time for me? The answer lies not just in my own cinephilia but in the very distinct phases of his career...

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Linkers Dozen

three must reads
• Blood Knife "Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny." Excellent article about the weird symmetry of the perfection of the body and the desexualization of cinema
• Thrillist Chris Feil suggests Oscars clips for this year's acting nominees
• The Ringer "Robert Pattinson has been lying to you for years" investigating the actors self-mythologizing interviews

Sam Elliott mouths off, the cast of Oppenheimer, a restoration of Alligator, Stephen King's next book, and more after the jump...

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