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Sunday, 12 July 2009
Just a few words.
Click on the link.
Interview With Mr. Hampton
If this is true I may flip out. In an interview Hampton [screenwriter of Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons and Cheri] says he plans on adapting the play The Seagulls to a film with the delicious Kristin Scott Thomas reprising her role. If this becomes a reality I may implode from happiness. I love Kristin, and I love her in period films.This could be a great thing if it happens. Anyhow, here's the pictures of Ms. Thomas in her only Oscar nominated performance. Grrrr.
She should have won...okay shouldn't she have? I am so biased and Frances McDormand was great as was Emily Watson, but I adore, love, admire Kristin Scott Thomas. She needs to get an Oscar...or at least another nomination. Look out next Friday, she's my Favourite of the week.
Would anyone of you want to see this...?
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Friday, 26 June 2009
This is a new feature that I'll be doing once a week. It will be dedicated to an actor [or singer/director/writer] that I love, usually one that is underrated, or out of the limelight. In light of the Emmy Nominees due within the next month I decided I'd start with someone whose name I hope to see there. None other that Amy Ryan. I'm hoping that Amy Ryan gets a nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, for her outstanding work on The Office this year.
Isn't she gorgeous?I first took note of Amy in Capote where she played the sheriff's star struck, it was a small part in a good film, and I was duly impressed... but it was the next year with her riveting turn in Gone Baby Gone that Amy made her mark on movie audiences. As a hardcore mother of a missing child living on welfare Amy played looked gaunt and tired in the role, a true transformation that warranted her a well deserved Oscar nomination and other awards. It was definitely one of the best performances of the year, and stole the show from her costars. Her next performance was a turn in the underrated gem Before the Devil Knows You;re Dead, which reteamed her with Capote costar Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Holly [aka the female Michael] in The OfficeLast year [for me] was a big year as far as Amy was concerned. She guest starred in The Office, for eight episodes and showed an unbelievably good comic timing. I am hoping and praying that the Emmy's give her a nomination, and win for her wonderful performance. Last year, she also gave a great cameo performance opposite Angelina Jolie in Changeling. Playing an imprisoned prostitute Amy gave probably the best female cameo of the year, since despite a short time in a long film, she sticks with you.
She's going to be opposite Matt Damon next in Green Zone, which I am hoping is going to once again show the world her greatness.
On a side note, Amy is a two time Tony Award nominee. Below is a picture of her with Natasha Richardson in the Broadway Revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Why does some one have to die?
Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more... the poet will die, the visionary The Hours
A fan of Michael writes...
So the news has reached us all by now, Michael Jackson, the king of pop, the superstar, the icon, the idol has left us. Katharine Hepburn once said, Wouldn't it be great if people could get to live as suddenly and as often as the die?, and Michael’s death was sudden. Death is sudden, whether if one comes to it through sickness or surprise. Michael was a famous recluse so we rarely heard a word about him. He seemed like one of those stars who would stay in his lair and outlive us all. I got the news of Michael’s death around 5:00 yesterday [my time]. I thought this was a joke. I refused to believe it, since the link I was directed to said the story was now in development. Eventually I realised that it was all but through and called almost everyone I knew. It wasn’t until later about 9:00 that I even turned on the television. They were showing his music. Then NBC started showing Dateline on Michael Jackson. In reflecting on Michael’s death I didn’t think of many things, but Dateline had to rehash all the old horrors – especially that of his recent trial for child molestation. I was completely dismayed. The thing is, I’m not one of this people who thinks at funerals and wakes you should sugar coat everything, but I’m also not one of this people who thinks that you should dissect the lives of the dead…which is exactly what I think we are doing right now.
It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, who his money goes to, whether or not he was social – people can be so callous. We used to learn in Law Class that life was sacrosanct – it isn’t. People have no respect for the living and even less for the dead. The vultures come to feast as they have another big headline – The Death of an Idol. What makes me even more disheartened is that so many people who never reached out to Michael in his time of need, who hid behind a shroud of distrust and malice are now mourning, and not just mourning – mourning publicly. I don’t know the man, but I think Michael died of sadness and disappointment. Yes, there were fans that supported him [like me] through his trials, the literal and the symbolic; but so many condemned him, without proof. We don’t know what happened, and I couldn’t care less. We don’t know what happened wherever, whenever. What we do know is that there is no person of celebrity left alive, and few have lived. We were blessed to live in the time of Michael. Let’s remember his music, his life was his. Let us learn from his death, and let us remember him, forever.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
And now the final actress in what we know as the best friend/maid role.
Alfre Woodard in Cross Creek
There’s Mary Steenburgen, there’s Rip Torn and there’s Alfre Woodard… what’s not to like? Cross Creek is probably one of the most thematically clichéd Oscar bait movie. Woman wants to start a new life, woman moves to secluded area, woman can’t handle area, woman makes friend with servant, servant’s life is interesting,&etc. What makes Cross Creek more than just a generic Oscar fare is the performances. Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen gives a strong performance as Marjorie Rawlings. Unfairly looked over, she deserved an Oscar nomination. Rip Torn is also good (as usual) in his role as Marsh, and Alfre Woodard earned her sole Oscar nomination for her role as Geechee, Rawling’s servant. I think that Alfre is one of the best black actresses of her generation and even though this role bears resemblance to her performance in Passion Fish (for which she should have been nominated) I like it, and am a fan.
As I mentioned earlier, the plot for Cross Creek is rather generic, and there is no character that seems more generic (on paper) than Geechee. Apparently the character is based on a composite of maids that Rawlings had over they years. The role reads like any stock best friend/black ally role, but Alfre totally elevated the role and give a strong performance earning a well deserved Oscar nomination. In terms of good acting I always like the scene where Geechee is trying to convinve Rawlings to give her a job. We know that Geechee is not as stupid as she’s pretending to be, the scene itself is nothing grand, but it’s good seeing Alfre show her chops, she’s good with the comic and the drama of the film and it really it’s my favourite performance of the film. Of all the five supporting women of 1983 Alfre seems to approach her role with the most gusto, of course that could be an occupational hazard because of the type of character Geechee is, but I don’t know. She just seems really submerged in the character. Imagine that this performance is over half a century old and although is not at the peak of her career as an actress we see signs of the multiple Emmy winner that she was to become.
Cross Creek itself is a good movie. It didn’t reinvent the wheel or anything like that, but it’s a good biopic in the traditional sense and it features some great performances
I find it abhorrent that there are no good pictures of Alfre in this role on line. I had to get this from Stinkylulu
It's time to look at the hottie nominee.
Amy Irving in Yentl
Amy Irving is definitely the prettiest of the five nominees. Yentl is a strange film for me. I generally like musicals. Actually, I like very much (West Side Story, Chicago, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins), there are some that are good but I’m a bit meh about (Singin’ In the Rain, A Star is Born, Gigi) and then there are those (one in particular) that I despise (An American in Paris). Yentl probably falls into the middle category. Barbra Streisand’s best (musical) performance for me will always be as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! In Yentl Barbra plays a young, Jewish woman who pretends to be a man in order to further studies. She falls in love with a man Mandy Patinkin ( who will always be George to me) who is engaged to a girl – Amy Irving. Hadass also falls in love with Yentl which is part of the main conflict of the movie. The plot is kind of been-there-done-that, but not in a bad way.
This movie is Barbra’s show, and this is not just because she directed the film. The writing is biased towards her, and all the other characters are not particularly realistic, and more importantly none of the other primary cast members have principal singing parts. There is only one scene Barbra is not in, and you still her voice, so it doesn't count. Amy Irving is just weak as Hadass. I suppose in a way she was supposed to be all meek and pious, and in that sense she did well. But when is too much, too much?…it’s just completely ignorable. I sort of wished her character would just die, or just get out of the damn movie, pretty face or not. This was definitely a waste of a supporting actress slot; I just didn’t find this performance appealing in an actress-y sort of way. Amy is just boring, boring, boring, boring. I mean this could have been something for the books.
Kind of off topic, Yentl has one my favourite songs Papa, Can You Hear Me? written by Marilyn Bergman. It’s a good song.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Michael Bay Does Serve A Purpose
JA has finally become free of hoping that Michael Bay has potential. Good for him.
In Defense of Minority Report
Keith Lucas gives an in depth look at his (and my) favourite Spielberg film.
The Most Produced High School Musicals
Chris Caggiano takes a look at what musicals high schoolers were doing last year. GAH High School Musical is on the list? For shame!
The Shadow of a Doubt
Rupert Alistair offers up his thoughts on Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.
Year One Review
This piece of shit is given what it deserves in a rather scathing review. It's hilarious!!
