Biopics With No Oscar Heat?

Here at the Film Experience we probably complain too often about Oscar's absolute obsession with the biopic genre. One reason we hate this that we don't talk about much is that the films don't tend to age well. If you don't believe me try watching all the Oscar nominees from any particular year in a single lead acting or Picture category. Guarantee that 9 times out of 10 the bio in the mix is the one most likely to cure your insomnia.

Because of annual biographical awards love  it's easy to forget early in each new film year that Oscar history is littered with bios that didn't catch on. I was just thinking about this because today is the Centennial of the Ty Cobb related Detroit strike. Cobb (1994), which you can watch on YouTube, was Tommy Lee Jones' chaser to his Oscar winning turn in The Fugitive. Come to think of it another Detroit related biopic Hoffa with Oscar's beloved Jack Nicholson also sank (mostly) with Oscar. Perhaps Detroit is an Oscar jinx for biopics? I'm calling it now: whoever plays Aretha Franklin when they get around to that biopic will be snubbed.

Which biographical films heading our way do you have the least faith in? Spielberg's Lincoln, Alfred Hitchock and the Making of Psycho with Anthony Hopkins, The Girl (another Hitchcock picture) with Toby Jones, Hyde Park on Hudson, Lovelace, Steve Jobs biopic written by Aaron Sorkin, Barbara Jordan biopic starring Viola Davis, Caught in Flight (Naomi Watts as Princess Diana), All is By My Side (Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix), Untitled Dr Seuss project with Johnny Depp. Etcetera. Which do you care about?

P.S. And how do you feel about Logan Marshall-Green playing a young Tennessee Williams in the Jena Malone headlined Carson McCuller's biopic Lonely Hunter? I don't have strong feelings for LM-G as of yet but Tennessee Williams is my all time favorite playwright. Have you ever read Carson McCuller's classic novel "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter"? So so so good.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Hope Springs"

I'm such a ditz. Last week we learned that Meryl Streep really needed more potassium in her diet -- the marketing for her new comedy Hope Springs is obsessed with those bananas -- and perhaps because of my love-hate relationship with those yellow phallic symbols, I completely forgot to post this particular Yes No Maybe So edition after writing it up. 

Meryl's potassium deficiency.

Last week I also got a painful charley horse in my left calf and I ate bananas the rest of the week as penance. I think I have a super mild allergy because they always make my mouth feel weird.

PSA

YES

• Who doesn't love Meryl Streep in comedies?
• Am I crazy or does Steve Carell have one of the most soothing beautiful voices ever. I want him to talk at me and talk at me and tell me everything will be okay. I love how his big screen persona is so different than his small screen work.
• Last time David Frankel and Streep worked together they gave us Miranda Priestley so we kinda owe them.
• Meryl and the Signifying Banana.
• OMG. Hi, Elisabeth Shue and Mimi Rogers. Meet you in 1987!!!

Great 80s Ladies: Elisabeth Shue, Meryl Streep, Mimi Rogers

MAYBE SO

• The threesome joke that ends the trailer. I can't decide if it's hilarious in a dumb joke way or just groan-worthy. If all the jokes are cheeky ribbings this will be hard to swallow.

NO

• The trailer isn't particularly funny and seems a little "you go girl" Lifetime bland.
• Tommy Lee Jones? In this part?
• Meryl Streep? With that hair? Seriously why.

Remember when we all first heard about this project and it sounded like a nuanced marital drama and it was going to star Jeff Bridges and I was pissed that Michelle Pfeiffer didn't fight Meryl for the role? This is not at all what I was expecting!

the trailer in question...

• Are you a Yes No or Maybe So?
• Ever practiced on a banana?
• Is this way outside of your comfort zone?

Batman at the Circus: 'Massacre Under the Big Top'

Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy, offering a circus-themed post to coincide with the release of Water for Elephants, 20th Century Fox's spring tentpole (nyuk, nyuk). My three-ring subject is a pivotal scene from Batman Forever, that neon-coated guilty pleasure that gave way to what's likely my most hated movie of all time. It begins with a cube of cheese:

I've really got to get you out of those clothes...

            "Excuse me?"

...and into a black dress. Tell me, doctor, do you like the circus?"

And with that, Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) and the bankly-named Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) head out for a very script-friendly first date, conveniently opening the door for The Birth of Robin. We soar into the Hippodrome, a waterfront arena just outside the downtown area of Joel Schumacher's rainbow vision of Gotham, and pass multiple instances of the production designer's imperialist-society-by-way-of-paper-mâché aesthetic.

Inside, Gotham's finest gather to watch the acrobatic stylings of The Flying Graysons, a carnie clan that includes Dick (Chris O'Donnell), his brother, and his mom and dad. To my knowledge, this setup adheres rather closely to the lore of the Batman comics, though Dick/Robin was just a wee lad of 10 when taken under Batman's cape.

Anyway (getting ahead of ourselves), the Graysons prove a crowd favorite.

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