Film Experience Blog

Another Oscar Trivia Explosion. This time it's the Actresses. 

Jennifer Lawrence made quite a film-carrying impression in Winter's Bone this past summer. It was one of the leggiest arthouse hits in some time, playing for months, and wracking up $6+ million without a huge advertising budget or bankable stars and with grim subject matter. Well done. At Christmas Hailee Steinfeld will lead us on a revenge journey in True Grit. While we suspect she's the lead actress as well, people her age are almost always demoted to "Supporting" if they're sharing the screen with a big star as co-lead and she is. Hi, Jeff Bridges! But we're pretending she's an Oscar lead today so as to have double the excuse to make this list. Humour us, won'cha?

The news, which isn't actual news yet so much as 'in talks' talking-points (the bulk of online movie articles), is this: Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts will take the plum Oscar bait roles of the pill-popping abusive matriarch Violet and eldest control-freak daughter Barbara in August: Osage County. The new (to feature directing) John Wells will sit in the director's chair instead of Mike Nichols as previously rumored.  It seems quite risky to give a project this complex and fraught with ways in which it could go wrong to a newbie but maybe his debut film (The Company Men) is unexpectedly rich?


 One of the most popular posts in the history of The Film Experience was our discussion of the casting of this genius actress-heavy play. It's THE stage-to-screen project to watch for any actressexual out there since the cast that matters is all female and the roles, to a one, are juicy with extra pulp. (The supporting female roles could put Oscars on shelves, too.)This news, if it does become actual news, is a weird sort of exciting/disappointing.

As many of you have gleaned I am something of an über Streep fan but I think she's wrong for this part. Streep has a glorious earthy warmth as a performer and Violet needs the opposite. Streep's most successful "cold" performances were in A Cry in the Dark (which came during the amazing chameleon years) and The Devil Wears Prada (see previous post) which came during her comedic ascendance. To do justice to Violet, she'd need to be as good as she was in both pictures... simultaneously. And sometimes when Streep goes cold (Doubt, The Manchurian Candidate) she pushes too much. Violet is more complicated than either the Prada or Cry roles and requires both jagged comic steel and dormant volcanic drama ... and both need to be channelled through a druggy fog for the entire film. In short: it's an A+ dream role, better than many whole Best Actress rosters combined.

I like Julia Roberts.

If Julia works as hard for August as she did for Erin Brockovich or Closer than she might absolutely nail the role of exhausted controlling Barbara. But how often does Julia work as hard as she does in those two movies? When you're a massive star with more innate charisma than most performers can muster over the entirety of a career, coasting is an ever present danger. If she coasts at all, you'll lose the electricity of the play. The play just crackles with the stuff. Any loss of that and you could have a disaster on your hands.

Streep is such a consummate performer that, whether miscast or not, many people will demand she win a third Oscar because she will be so spectacularly watchable in the end. Even if it's not quite what the movie needs. (We'll see. I can't say how badly I hope to be wrong.)

I watched the 3 hour play from the edge of my seat and loved-loved-loved. I will anxiously await the movie. But both casting decisions feel like the kind anyone could and would make without actually knowing anything about the play, the roles, the tone or what kind of movie it would need to be to be a great one. It reeks of corporate laziness. They are rather inarguably the most famous senior citizen actress and the most famous middle age actress; "STREEP | ROBERTS" will look great on a marquee. But it's sad to cast source material this magnificent with no regard for the actual source material, and all eyes towards some imaginary marquee.

Movies should come first, not their ad campaigns.
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Actors on Actors looks at screen moments when stars are name-checked... by other stars! It's very meta. Since we're multi-tasking today trying to catch up, it's also a Tuesday Top Ten! In this episode, a scene from My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

Julia Roberts: I have big plans for dancing. Just give me 30-35 years."
Rupert Everett [the voice on that ginormous cel phone]: The misery. The exquisite tragedy. The Susan Hayward of it all!"

The umimpeachably witty Mr. Everett (aided by that film's wonderful screenplay from Ronald Bass) is, of course, referring to the grand high priestess of exclamatory drama, Miss "I Want to Live!" Herself. It's not just those curtain-chewing performances, the desperate women she played or the trashy films but the gleefully histrionic taglines, too.

For no reason other than that I plan to live my life with exclamation points this week...




10 "She made good - with a plunging neckline, and the morale of a tigress"
from I Can Get it For You Wholesale (1951)

09 "LOVE-WRECKED!"
from Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman! (1963)

08"They branded her "Adulteress"!
from The President's Lady (1953)

07 "HARD-MUSCLED! SOFT-HEARTED!"
from The Fighting Seabees (1944)

06 "Do you know what they say about Laura Pember? They say she uses men like pep-up pills!"  from Stolen Hours which is also known as Summer Flight (1963)



05 "Love can make a killer out of a woman... and a fool out of any man!"
from I Thank a Fool (1962)

04 "She fell from fame to shame!" from I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

03 "The way SHE loved a Man could lead in only one direction - DOWN!"
from They Won't Believe Me (1947)

02 "A FAST BUCK... A FAST BRONC ... A FAST THRILL"
from The Lusty Men (1952)

01 "This story was filmed on location...  inside a woman's soul!"
also from I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
It's not just the greatest tagline from a Susan Hayward picture, it's the greatest movie tagline of the 20th century! And probably the 21st century too!! It deserves so many exclamation points !!!


At the annual convention of TLCOM (Tag Line Copywriters of America) their lifetime achievement prize is called "The Hayward".*

*I made that last part up but it should be the truth.

Today is Irish beauty and movie star Maureen O'Hara's 90th birthday. Oh, don't look so surprised Maureen! Ya know I love you though it's true I rarely talk about you herein. Hmmm, how to remedy? I'm beyond thrilled that you're still with us and I love you with great heaping muchness. xoxo, a fan.

Where were we? Linkage!

I went a little crazy today because I was catching up on my web browsing and some actual reading (gasp). Enjoy.

SLATIFR Dennis Cozzalio interviews Self Styled Siren. Terrific read if you love erudite movie lovers and I do, I do, I do. Can't wait for part 2.
ToH! Julia Roberts back on top, even at #2
Heroine Content on the women in Scott Pilgrim vs the World and one distasteful element.
Totally Looks Like James Buchanan totally looks like John Lithgow!Movie|Line Wish Michael Douglas well, he's got a tumor in his throat.
i09 Jason Schartzmann on his villain role in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

It's kind of hard to be in a room and every time you get punched or hit people applaud. You're kind of like "wait, wait, wait it's fake I'm nice, I'm NICE!"

Ha. Fun movie that.
PopEater is Neil Patrick Harris thinking of quitting showbiz? Eek.
The Wrap says we need more female action heroes. Which we do. But there's a strange suggestion here that Angelina Jolie has just become one with Salt. Uh, that happened many years ago -- Jolie as badass, not Jolie as Salt.
Salon When should a director stop messing with their earlier films? "Serial recutter" Michael Mann has a new version of Last of the Mohicans (1992) out for home consumption.
Maurice's Blog Batgirl! I can't tell you how much I obsessed over Yvonne Craig as a wee kid so I relate.


Nick's Flick Picks is about to debut what sounds like a fascinating and sorely needed new "grading" system. Maybe everyone will copy this!
/Film new photos from Sofia Coppola's Somewhere.
MNPP JA finally sees the Johnny Depp Pretty in Cry Baby. Funny post.
Dave Kehr a new Kim Novak box set with five films.
Scanners a beautiful and enthusiastic piece on The Kids Are All Right and how expertly judged the filmmaking is: editing, shotwork, etcetera
Movie Dearest on the DVD rerelease of Orlando and the ageless Tilda Swinton
Blog Stage "Matthew McConaughey Can't Stand Up By Himself" Hee. I've never noticed this before but GLENN did last year as Vertigo reminds us in the comments. Glenn is brilliant. I wish I'd started my "posterized" series a year ago and beat him to it.

Eat Pray Love and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World are almost kinda the same movie. Or at least thematically kin. No really. Though I'd grade them differently: B- and B+ respectively at least immediately after viewing.


I'd love to hear what you thought of both or either. You starring in Read Share Like
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We try to keep our new movie expectations safely balanced by weighing the possible highs and lows suggested by new trailers. Here's the first peak of the summer drama Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts.



Eat Pray Love is based on the bestselling memoirs of Elizabeth Gilbert who travelled to Rome, Mumbai and Bali on a journey of self-discovery after her divorce.

yes
Spiritual, romantic or emotional journeys (is this one all three?) can be thrilling to watch if the right actress is playing the right role (provided, of course, that the filmmakers aren't after one of those lame, shallow "you can have it all!" empowerment tales). Julia Roberts might be a perfect fit for this since she's got the outward appearance of someone who has it all but an inner soulfulness that can tilt towards the despairing, troubled or needy. The buttery light and the presence of Javier Bardem makes me think of Vicky Cristina Barcelona and the 'woman opens up in a foreign country' makes me think of EM Forster adaptations and the though of India touching a long-locked white woman makes me think of "Thank U" by Alanis Morrissette. These are all good things to be reminded of.

no
On the other hand, this could be really whiny and insufferable, another entry in the dread genre Pretty Rich White People With Problems.

Since I was fifteen, I've either been with a guy or breaking up with a guy. I have not given myself two weeks of a breather just to deal with myself

So let me get this straight. As soon as Julia is done with dreamboat Billy Crudup, handsome young James Franco pines for her while Spanish lover Javier Bardem waits just around the corner. And she has enough money to quit work for a year on this vacation to find herself? Oh boo hoo! How does she wake up in the morning!?!

We should all have those problems.

This particular subgenre of road movie also has the inherent danger of cultural insensitivity. Quite often the "exotic" people and lands of these stories exist only to aid and fulfill the lives of the Pretty Rich White People and aren't ever given dimension and a point of view of their own (The Darjeeling Limited provides a recent beautifully illustrative example of this dilemma.)

maybe so
But on the other hand, don't we need these stories? Catharsis is one of the great benefits of art and travel is also a reliable eye-opener. And no matter what country you're from when you do travel to another, you are in fact viewing that "exotic" land from your own limited perspective be it Mumbai, Paris, New York, or Kansas City. And even wealthy beautiful people need to find themselves and really live.

And Julia touches an elephant!

Redemptive journey movies can be inspirational if they're not too reductive and if they don't play things too easy. So if the director (Ryan Murphy of Running With Scissors) is careful and the cast (including fine lesser-known actors like Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis and Mary Testa) is on their game, Eat Pray Love could be really good. If it is, lines like

If you could clear out all that space in your mind you'd have a doorway. And you know what the universe would do? Rush in!

won't sound like new age tripe but healing words of wisdom instead.

Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So for this one?
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Oscars in Review: worst & weirdest moments, most wonderful moments and all 09/10 awards season posts

I like Sandra Bullock. I feel like I have to start from there. Her Oscar win should have seemed inevitable to me from the first moment I heard about the movie. For, you see, I am almost never happy with the way this category pans out (as opposed to Supporting Actress wherein I apparently have more Oscar-friendly taste). Unlike the mega-millions of other people who like Ms Bullock, I didn't spend the season trying to justify nor am I OK with her being an Oscar winner. It's BEYOND weird to me that Kate Winslet, an Oscar level actress if ever there was one, had to endure such vitriol from fans and non-fans alike for winning an Oscar last year for one of her minor performances but Sandra can coast along to Oscar on little more than being "likeable" and elevating bad movies and people are happy for her! I don't get that math at all and I wish people would be more consistent about why they got angry about the Oscars. Not that it's easy to be angry about Sandra Bullock who is gracious and loveable. And gives good speech! More on that in another post.

And now for my split screen envelope opening emotional projection obsession!


Gabourey Sidibe and Carey Mulligan seem genuinely nervous before the name is read. I don't imagine either expected to win per se, but if it's your first time through it's probably easier to believe that anything is possible. Even if you don't want to believe it for fear of disappointment, Carey. Dame Helen Mirren (of the spider tattoo... thanks Michael Sheen) seems totally bored. I'm guessing she was thinking "Meryl or Sandra? Oh okay, Sandra" -- no emotional fuss whatsoever. Gabby appears to be waving to the camera in the last still but it's actually just a strange way of clapping parallel to your body rather than the normal perpendicular way. Meryl seems to be doing the turn your head to avoid the camera seeing your disappointment thing but in truth, Sandra is just across the aisle to that side of her and they've been uh, flirtatious, throughout awards season. She was just looking at her. Meryl is a good loser. The Best actually. She's perfected it over the past 28 years. She always seems utterly delighted to be there even when losing. She's so good at it you'd think she doesn't even care about winning. But that seismic blast of joy when she won the SAG for Doubt last year indicates otherwise. La Streep WANTS to win a third. And who could blame her after all she's done for the cinema?

So the Oscar Math goes like so when it comes to the Best Actress category:


Oscar Actress Math never computes.

But here are my favorite Best Actress Oscar winners from the Oscar decade just ended


I'm only half kidding. And I didn't even want Julia Roberts to win that year because I was rooting for Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream (who would make my nominee list even if the Oscars were only once a decade). My point is this: I am almost never happy with how Best Actress turns out. Almost never ever. The last time I had the same #1 as Oscar? Thirteen years ago when Frances McDormand won for Fargo. Even when one of my all time favorite actors does win (like Nicole Kidman & Kate Winslet) they win for the wrong performance!

I was going to do the same thing i did for best actress that I did for supporting and list the top 5 but it was EXCRUCIATING to even narrow it down to 12. Horrible horrible... actual physical pain.

Nathaniel's Top Dozen Best Actress 2000-2009

• Björk, Dancer in the Dark (snubbed)
• Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream (nominated, lost)
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal (nominated, lost)
• Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher (snubbed)
• Nicole Kidman, Birth (snubbed)
• Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven (nominated, lost)
• Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake (nominated, lost)
• Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada (nominated, lost)
• Tilda Swinton, Julia (snubbed)
• Uma Thurman, Kill Bill (snubbed)
  
• Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr (snubbed)
• Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine (nominated, lost)
  

I'm sure you noticed a pattern. Half were snubbed by the Academy altogether and none of the nominees won. In an entire decades worth of Oscar! Even my favorite of Oscar's winners (Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich) isn't in my top 12! I have no idea why Best Actress continues to be my favorite category. It will lead me to the madhouse.

Do you have any categories that you love in this masochistic way?
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MattCanada here with another week of gay cinema. This week's film is My Best Friend's Wedding, one of the most criminally underrated films of all time and, in my opinion, the best comedy of the nineties.


From afar the film's gay credentials seem to amount to just another example of the romantic comedy's stereotypical use of the gay best friend character. However, George (Rupert Everett in a career best performance) is the film's voice-of reason, moral centre, and ultimately the film's unconventional leading man.


The relationship between George and Julianne is only one of the many loveable aspects of My Best Friend's Wedding. Julia, Rupert, Dermot and Cameron Diaz all give performances that could be considered either their best work or on par with it. The script is hilarious and its set pieces are endlessly re-watchable. The Karaoke Scene where Julianne forces a reticent and stage shy Kimberly (Diaz) onstage to humiliate her, only to have it backfire and endear her to Michael and the whole room is poetic justice at its finest. Another exemplary comedic sequence is the cat fight in the washroom where Kimberly finally lets Julianne have it. Though indisputably the best moment is the now iconic "I Say A Little Prayer for You" wedding party sing-a-long led by George and the two slutty Southern cousins (this song also accompanies Julianne and George's dance at film's end). Movie moments which deliver pure and perfect pleasure are few and far between, and this is one of them. From the harmonizing, to Julianne's embarrassment, and the ensemble acting work, everything comes together flawlessly for a few minutes of cinematic joy.



Finally, isn't it amazing that a romantic comedy has at its center a character who is flawed and who makes mistakes but is not defined by them? Julianne is complex and Julia Robert confidently makes her both likable and enraging. If it was up to me the film, screenplay, Julia, Cameron, and Rupert all would have been nominated for Oscars that year.

Each day we're celebriting the birth of various cinematic persons. Can someone in Hollywood please give their Oscar to Ed Harris today? I mean, my god how long does he have to wait for that damn thing? The rest of today's Sagittarians are less easy to shop for. What could we give Jon Stewart, for example, that he doesn't already have?


1896 Lilia Skala, Oscar nominated actress (Lilies of the Field)
1923 Gloria Grahame, Oscar winner (The Bad the Beautiful)
933 Hope Lange, Oscar nominated actress (Peyton Place, The Young Lions, Death Wish)
1941 Laura Antonelli, Italian actress, sex symbol
1946 Joe Dante He'll always have Gremlins, such a great 80s picture.
1949 Alexander Godunov, like Baryshnikov, he was a Russian ballet star who defected to America and co-starred in movies. It didn't go quite as well. He never achieved anything close to Misha's level of fame though he made for a memorable screen presence (Witness, Die Hard), and dated other celebrities (memorably 70s sex symbol Jacqueline Bissett). He died at 45. Alcoholism done him in.
1950 Ed Harris golden winner-in-waiting, fab actor... If I had to pick a favorite performance I'd say The Truman Show. But then there's always The Right Stuff, A History of Violence... Pollock!

1959 Judd Nelson "what we found out is that each of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basketcase, a princess ...and a criminal. Does that answer your question?"
1960 Barry Alexander Brown, edits nearly every Spike Lee joint. He still hasn't been Oscar nominated.
1961 Alfonso Cuarón one of my fav' current directors (Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien)
1962 Jon Stewart former actor, the most trusted (and funniest) newsman alive
1975 Sunny Mabrey film/tv actress (Snakes on a Plan, Species III)
1979 Daniel Henney actor (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Three Rivers), Bean Pole model
1984 Mary Elizabeth Winstead, horror star (The Ring Two, Final Destination 3, Grindhouse). Next up: bigger stardom via "Ramona V. Flowers" in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
2004 Twin Spawn of JULIA aka Hazel & Phinnaeous Moder

Today is also the 252nd anniverary of the birth of poet/painter William Blake. His work, often questioning organized religion (though he was spiritual himself) influenced the writing of The Golden Compass. There are still more movie connections. Johnny Depp reads his verse and is named after him in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. Blake's painting 'The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Sun' is the one that Ralph Fiennes was so hungry for in Red Dragon. Because in the movies, you see, all serial killers are well educated aesthetes who love classical music and art and not seemingly average blue collar men like they tend to be statistically in real life. It's just part of Hollywood's dependable anti-intellectualism. Beware the big brain! It wants to eat your liver with some fava be... (well, you know the rest)

Jose here bringing you the Monday Monologue.


From the moment Erin Brockovich was released, in March of 2000, everyone knew that Julia Roberts would win an Oscar for it. There was nary a review that did not point out how fantastic she was, how she carried the burdens of a dramatic role so well (after practically creating the entire rom-com movement throughout the 90's) and how big her boobs looked.

But beyond the awards craze, the "she can act" novelty and the miniskirts, the truth is that Julia had created a character all her own. One that might've looked and sounded like Julia Roberts, but was all Erin Brockovich.

This is never as evident as in a small, intimate scene where Erin opens up to a man (her biker neighbor played by Aaron Eckhart) for the first time in years.

Are you gonna be something else that I have to survive?

she asks him after a mini breakdown (notice how she subtly implodes, instead of chewing the scenery).

She then goes on telling him about her one year stint as beauty queen.

So I get up on the stage, in the center of the stage and I have a big bouquet of flowers and I have my foot out like this and I say 'I will devote my entire reign as Miss Wichita to bringing an end to world hunger and to the creation of a peaceful Earth for every man, woman and child'.

The scene is directed by Steven Soderbergh as if he'd been possessed by Francois Truffaut or a kinder version of Godard, in how he lets the editing create cadences about what Erin isn't saying.
The scene plays out like Erin would remember it, once she was back fighting the evil corporations, being her good, old, potty mouthed self.

Roberts makes Erin laugh at herself and tell this anecdote as something silly to pass the time. But the bittersweet truth is that this might very well be her "I coulda been a contender" speech, something in her eyes is telling us that she wished she could've solved all the world's troubles, or her own for starters.

For the first time in the movie Erin becomes truly aware of her mortality and lost opportunities. And for the first time in her career Julia showed us why she's destined to become immortal.

Jose here with a confession: few things nowadays get me as happy as the idea of a new Julia Roberts movie (yes, I'm slightly easy to please sometimes). So you can imagine the excitement this month has provided for me! First was the cute, and star studded, trailer for Valentine's Day (what do you mean you haven't seen it? Do so now!).

And today the web is bursting with Julia in saris, flower necklaces and bodyguards as she begins shooting Eat, Pray, Love in the town of Mirzapur in northern India. The movie, directed by Ryan Murphy, is based on the eponymous novel by Elizabeth Gilbert and tells the story of a divorced woman who travels across the world to regain her inner peace.

But back to Julia, The Indian Times reports

Wearing a purple kurta, black salwar and rudraksha beads, she completed her first day's shoot for a Hollywood film in Pataudi on Sunday (Sept 20), living up her role every bit! One scene had her eating rice, chapati, aloo-gobi and muttar-paneer the Indian way - with her bare hands.

She's just like the rest of us...

The Associated Press also commented on Mrs. Moder's Indian visit and how she was all the rage amongst the villagers of Mirzapur where young boys climbed trees and villagers crowded rooftops. Is it me being morbid or does this remind you of Slumdog Millionaire a bit?

Fortunately for Julia the film kicked off with the rightfully blessed foot as Indian priest Swami Dharam Dev offered prayers for the whole cast and crew. He also gave Julia's children the names of Indian gods [he] named her twins Hazel and Phinnaeus as Laxmi and Ganesh, while Henry will be called Krishna Balram.

The movie is set to open in 2011 and also stars Javier Bardem as the man she falls in love with, Billy Crudup as the man she was in love with, Viola Davis as yet another rom-com best friend and Richard Jenkins.

(photographic src)

As languorously demonstrated by Ms. Julia Roberts


No offense to Sally Field's reading skills but...yeah. Not enjoying this.

If I survive the day (it's looking iffy), the last two Toronto reports from txt critic will go up tonight)
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...and Sulk (apparently).

Why are Julia Roberts and James Franco so glum on set? Is it because Javier Bardem isn't there yet? Speculate about their grumpy moods in the comments!
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Streep at 60: We've been looking at each Meryl Streep Oscar nod and its competition. Previously 78, 79, 81, 82 and 83, 85, 87 and 88

I believe that Meryl Streep's film career can be divided into five chapters or acts (thus far).

• Act I (Liberated Lady) 1977-1981
• Act II (Chamaeleonidae Erotica) 1981-1988
• Act III (Funny Lady) 1989-1992
• Act IV (???) 1993-2001
• Act V (The Great Entertainer) 2002-present

After the High Drama years it came as a shock to many when Meryl was suddenly making comedies. Some felt it was a career crisis and there was some backlash going on. This is possibly hard to comprehend for her new young fans but great success always leads to it and many people were sick of Streep's total dominance as the Eighties wound down. It was somewhat common wisdom at the time that her run at the top was ending, having turned 40 in 1989. Several younger stars were coming into their own and beginning to hog the attention: Meg Ryan (27) and Julia Roberts (22) were suddenly fighting for the America's Sweetheart crown, Michelle Pfeiffer (31) was beginning her short run as the dramatic actress, Winona Ryder (18) was inarguably in great demand; Melanie Griffith (32), Geena Davis (33) and Holly Hunter (31) were expected to soar in the Nineties; Ellen Barkin (35), Mimi Rogers (33), Madeleine Stowe (31), Mary Stuart Masterson (23) and Laura Dern (22) were question marks. The list goes on.

Though Meryl had often delivered funny beats in dramatic roles, She-Devil (1989) was her first purely comedic screen role. Some felt she was too broad and few liked the movie as a whole but that didn't slow Meryl on her new course. She followed it up with three more comedies: Postcards From the Edge, Defending Your Life and Death Becomes Her (1992). The fourth, very silly and quite entertaining (which I'll talk about next week), was her first substantial hit since Out of Africa (1985).


The second, Postcards..., the best and most dramatic of the comedies, was a minor success financially and gave Meryl her ninth Oscar nomination. This historic event put her ahead of Geraldine Page (8 noms) and behind only Bette Davis (10 noms) and Katharine Hepburn (12 noms) as Oscar's all time favorite gal. For a great write up on Postcards I suggest Nick Davis's astute piece on Meryl as Entertainer. I also suggest reading the original book by Carrie Fisher which is much different than the movie but just as entertaining.

1990 the nominees were

• Kathy Bates, Misery
• Anjelica Huston, The Grifters
• Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman
• Meryl Streep, Postcards from the Edge
• Joanne Woodward, Mr & Mrs. Bridge
  

Other 1990 women for context: The snubbed Drama Globe nominees numbered two: Michelle Pfeiffer (Russia House) and Susan Sarandon (White Palace). The snubbed Comedy Globe nominees numbered three: Demi Moore (Ghost), Mia Farrow (Alice) and Andie MacDowell (Green Card). Other leading women that year were: Debra Winger (The Sheltering Sky), Sandra Bernhard (Without You I'm Nothing), Maria de Medeiros (Henry & June), Cher (Mermaids), Goldie Hawn (Bird on a Wire) and Tracey Ullman (I Love You To Death)

Nathaniel's list: I have still not caught up with Woodward's performance (?Why?) but otherwise my 1990 choices are the nominees Bates, Huston and Streep with the other spots going to two of these four: Mia Farrow, Laura Dern (Wild at Heart), Jessica Lange (Men Don't Leave) and Victorial Abril (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down).

How do you feel about Meryl's first four screen stabs at comedy and who makes your Best Actress ballot for 1990?
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Congratulations to Kyra Sedgwick who just got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Remember when it looked for a millisecond like she might get an Oscar nod for playing Julia Robert's sassy sister in Something to Talk About back in 1995? Stealing scenes from Julia might seem like a hard thing to do and commendable, too, but it pisses Academy voters right off. One must not pull focus from their Pretty Woman!

Future Julia Roberts co-stars consider yourself forewarned! If you steal a movie from the billion dollar grin, you will get media attention. You will get a Golden Globe nomination. But, come Oscar nomination morning, THE BIG SNUB AWAITS YOU.

the case evidence:

• Sally Field, Steel Magnolias (1989)
• Hector Elizondo, Pretty Woman (1990)
• Dustin Hoffman, Hook (1992)
• Sophia Loren, Pret-à-Porter (1994)
• Liam Neeson, Michael Collins (1996)
• Kyra Sedgwick, Something to Talk About (1995)
• Rupert Everett, My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
• Hugh Grant, Notting Hill (1999)

Yes all of them were Golden Globe nominated and then Oscar snubbed.


There is reason to believe that this golden curse has been broken: Natalie Portman and Clive Owen (Closer) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War) all survived pulling Julia's focus in recent years, trading in their Globe hoopla for coveted Oscar nominations. But that said Natalie & Clive won the Globes but still lost the Oscar. So, I still say that Javier Bardem ought to watch his back on the set of Eat, Pray, Love if he wants another run at Oscar in 2011.
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L I M I T E D
The New Twenty This is only playing here in New York at the tiniest screen known to mankind (Hi, Quad!) For a first film it's quite good. Ignore the generic 'we'll get the gays to see it!' poster (if the leading man looks familiar think Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" video) and somewhat clumsy title. The plot is a little shapeless but the characters are quite likeable and engaging. The sex lives and friendships of this makeshift family, some gay some straight, are more realistic than you usually see in movies. All that plus the film doesn't push its jokes -- some of the characters just happen to be funny. That's the way we like our laughs in ensemble dramas. B

Hunger If you've been reading lately you know that I highly recommend this one, the true story of a hunger strike in the early 80s in a hellish prison. It's politics are only viewed from one angle but cinematically it operates on several. The artist Steve McQueen is gifted behind the movie camera. (previous thoughts) A-

The Great Buck Howard "Malkovich! Malkovich! Malkovich!" This time he plays a "mentalist"... that's almost like the time Jack Nicholson played a wolf. Is the casting too on the nose?

Máncora A Peruvian road trip film about a young brother and sister and the sister's husband following their father's suicide. Apparently "lines are crossed".

Skills Like This an indie comedy that had festival audiences chuckling. It's about a frustrated writer who suddenly robs a bank.


Valentino The Last Emperor a documentary that follows the closing act of über famous orange designer Valentino Garavani and his business partner Giancarlo Giametti nearly 50 year career. I always hold out hope that there will one day be another fashion documentary as good as Unzipped (1995). Could this be it?

Sin Nombre A sociopolitical thriller about Mexican gangs and a teenager from Honduras on a freight train bound for the States. It wowed critics at Sundance, winning both Best Director (it's a first feature for Cary Fukunaga) and Cinematography prizes.

E X P A N D I N G
Sunshine Cleaning It has occasional trouble navigate its need for quirk (the bane of self-conscious indies). I have no idea why it steals a character wholesale from a better film -- in this case Alan Arkin all but reprising his Oscar winning Little Miss Sunshine performance -- but the rest of the supporting cast handles their roles beautifully and without much fuss. In it's best moments, particularly those involving a love affair between Amy Adams and Steve Zahn, it plays naturalistic and humble. Emily Blunt and Adams are completely watchable, sexy and winning but I suppose that's no surprise at this point. B/B-

W I D E
I Love You, Man Paul Rudd is, according to EW, the most adorable movie star on the planet. I missed the part where Amy Adams was dethroned but I love the Rudd, too. Jason Segel co-stars in this bromantic comedy. Is this popculture movement a trend or a fad? It depends on whether or not this movie is a smash I suppose.

Knowing If you stop seeing bad movies, you can do your part to prevent the apocalypse. Or at least the final destruction of our beloved cinema (my review) D


Duplicity Remember that awesomely hostile sexual chemistry Clive Owen and Julia Roberts had in Closer? It's back in full force only this time twisted slightly to service comedic spy games. They really are a sensational screen couple (and relatively close in age: take note Hollywood. This helps). I'm already eager for a third date with them. Although a second date with this movie might be helpful because it's so damn confusing. Also quite fun. B+

Are you at the movies this weekend or staying in with DVDs?
If you're doing neither, explain yourself oh foe of cinema !
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Silver Screen
The Big Picture still waiting on the (nonexistent) trailer for Avatar.
Do You Have a Flag? remembers The Virgin Suicides. Mmm, pretty pictures.
Big Screen Little Screen Melissa Leo going back to series television.
MNPP James Franco (I nearly spit out my coffee. LOL)
Getty Should Julia Roberts get a restraining order?


Film Addict remembers Ruth Chatterton in Dodsworth. Dodsworth is one of my all time favorites. For some reason I have yet to surmount my block about writing it up.
/Film is Skarsgård picking up Thor's hammer? And do we need a Thor movie? Remember how that little girl in Adventures in Babysitting was obsessed with the Norse god and how totally random and weird that was?
Oscar and the City reveals his "most anticipated performances" list.
The Inciting Incident How cool must it be to be a Pixar intern? I imagine very.
Disney Blog Seems The Princess and the Frog is doing a limited Thanksgiving wide mid- December release so favored by live action prestige pictures. Curious.

Precious Box
Towleroad Apparently Taylor Kitsch is sick of providing beefcake for Friday Night Lights (Not to worry. Riggins is about to graduate and become "Gambit")
EW Friday Night Lights might get a 4th and 5th season. If it comes to pass I will explode with happines. Quick show of hands in the comments please. How many of you watch it? And if you do, how much do you love Connie Britton? So EMMY worthy! Between ignoring both her and the women of Galactica for years it's quite possible that EMMY voters officially have the worst taste in actresses of any organization that's ever existed. They'll have another chance to fix this in July, but they love to repeat their mistakes.
LA Times I never thought I'd be linking to an American Idol piece again (I've been over that show since as long as I can remember) but this is a fairly interesting piece about the show's deep homophobia and racial comformity issues. They'll never have to correct any of their sins against society (i.e. their devoted audience) with the ratings they get, though. Sad but true.

I'm really trying to leave the gold man behind but he never unclenches his grip. Have you noticed the arms? Plus he has a sword... so, one has to move slowly away. Tip toe. Tip toe. I advise against sudden movements.

Anyway, for fun I thought I'd dedicate a post to the dozen acting Oscar winners who won when they were 33 years of age. Why? Because it's all about Kate Winslet right now! Here they are...

• Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946... the only man! they make them wait longer. He was also the first disabled Oscar winner if my trivia is correct)
• Olivia DeHavilland, The Heiress (1949... second Oscar)
• Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity (1953)
• Sally Field, Norma Rae (1979)
• Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice (1982... second Oscar)
• Jessica Lange, Tootsie (1982)
• Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist (1988)

• Emma Thompson, Howards End (1992)
• Juliette Binoche, The English Patient (1996)
  
• Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago (2002)
  
• Kate Winslet, The Reader (2008)

You know this list makes Mel Gibson seethe with jealousy.

No Best Actor nominee has ever won during his Jesus year. In fact no actor who has ever risked playing Jesus has won an Oscar either before or after that Only Begotten Moment (and that includes actors as acclaimed as Ralph Fiennes, Max von Sydow -- whom I interviewed and asked about the "spiritual thread" in his career, Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale all of whom you'd think would have a statue by now) so maybe it's an Academy curse.

If I am struck by lightning after posting this, I'll try to film it so David Fincher can use it in his next movie.

If your Jesus year is still ahead of you you can use this trivia as a goal post. How will you work towards winning an Oscar by then? Make a plan and get busy! If you're older than 33 try not to feel desperately unaccomplished.
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