olivergruver

Is what this film needed. There were aspects that were vintage Spielberg, but there was a tightening that was needed. The film has no business being 2:20 long. But that said, there were some wonderful aspects about it.

First, Christopher Walken gives a brilliant performance of a man who silently encourages his son to continue defying authority. The lines in his face outline the path his Willy Loman life has taken; and like every great actor's trick, there is something mysterious behind his eyes, someone he won't even confide into his own son about; it's like he has one last ace up his sleeve. It is the aspect of him that his son worships, that elevates his father into God-like status for him. He is suspended in animation they way young Frank, Jr. has suspended the family he left when he began his caper.

Leonardo DiCaprio shines in total believability as the young Frank, Jr. He totally immerses himself into this role and produces such a fresh-faced kid who skirts just his side of rogue-ishness. Because DiCaprio can bring more of his own life and experiences into this role, it is his best yet. Notice the subtleties of maturation from the beginning to the flashbacks. This film is a calling card for DiCaprio and we sit in anticipation as to what his next roles will be. He just might be the new original star we have been craving - not a carve-out of the past. Maybe America has finally produced its own "Olivier," but an actor of the cinema (America's acting pedigree), not of the theatre. And DiCaprio's magic will finally legitimize cinema's form of acting as an art.

While some have call this Spielberg's imitation of Soderbergh, I think it's the director still trying to find his Howard Hawks voice. Now that he has become an icon, he will try to be a dilletante in many genres. His second act bump recalls the suspense he built in "Jaws," envoking applause at the ingenuity of the script/direction. He needs to try another "Sugarland Express," see if he can get past substance and tell a small simple story without epic treatment. A bold experiment for Spielberg would to now MAKE a made-for-tv movie, maybe try a Soderbergh pretention and create a road-show film. While "Full Frontal" was an exercise in "cinemart", for Spielberg it might have actually created some interesting results. What if this very film would have been made for less than $5 million with the same exact people. I bet the results would have been more exciting than the finished product.

And so I come to this conclusion: it was entertaining and enjoyable, just overproduced. Mr. Spielberg, please try something like this again, only put some restrictions on yourself. Don't build everything, shoot something on the fly - challenge yourself by restricting yourself. I'd love to see the results.

...for Best Actress, Jodie Foster, and actually deserves to win Dwight Yoakam a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He terrifyingly conveys menace and pure creepiness while wearing! a! ski-mask! That's acting. He steals the show from Forest Whitaker and proves to be a formidable foil to Foster's character.

Jodie Foster will be nominated because we are truly terrified as she is about to pass out, as she is about to get her face smashed in. It's just a small moment, but it is her best work since "The Silence of the Lambs."

If only there were a Oscar nomination for Best Titles.

The reason this film works (arguably the greatest bio-pic ever produced) is that it is ABOUT Loretta Lynn's life, not about country music. From the opening shots of a young Loretta riding a mule to the mines with her brother, you know this will be a film about extraordinary characters. It is over an hour before we hear one song from Loretta Lynn; director Michael Apted and writer Thom Rickman spend time to develop Loretta, Doolittle and her family. When her father dies, the audience cries with Loretta because we know her family, her father, we understand where this girl came from and why it is such a unique transition from backwoods girl to international star.

It's been said that Ms. Lynn was named after movie star Loretta Young. When approached by executives to make a movie about her life (based on her best-selling autobiography), she was savvy enough to realize that a film would end up on television anyway, and opted to have film made. I can imagine (most likely to the chagrin of studio execs) that Apted fought to develop a script that showcased the characters over the music. The result is a film that EVERYONE enjoys. When the film was released in 1980, I remember people going who were definitely not country music fans, and I remember their raves after the movie.

America is about the Horatio Alger storyline: everyone can achieve greatness. This film highlights that dream. While it does fall into some cliche trappings once Loretta Lynn is a huge success (the on-the-road montage, the drugs, the nervous breakdown), there are such cliches because the pressure performers feel is one in the same. Overall, it ages beautifully because it captures a time when the American hills spawned such unique talent (Lynn's contemporaries are either showcased or mentioned to great effect).

Of special note: If Oscars could be given for past work, Beverly D'Angelo should be voted the "Best Supporting Actress" of 1980 for this film. Unfortunately, she was not even nominated. You will be hard-pressed to find such a complete performance in film. Similar in screen time and impact as Dame Judi Dench's performance in "Shakespeare In Love", D'Angelo gives a Master Class in screen acting for her portrayal of the late Patsy Cline. Most likely, this flash of brilliance is what inspired the film "Sweet Dreams", the bio-pic of Cline, a film that pales in comparison to "Coal Miner's Daughter."

This is Spacek's only Oscar win thus far out of six nominations. She's a national treasure and this performance is outstanding. However, you should see this film for all its elements, working to create an outstanding picture. Highly recommended.