Open Thread. Voices (& Comments) Carry
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 6:33PM Editorial Note: I'm aware that despite the deliciously robust comment threads on recent posts like "Worst of the (Best)" and "Beasts of the Precursor Wild" a few of you (and me actually) have been having some issues with Comments. I'm monitoring it closely now and unfortunately this week it's decided that some of you are spambots so I've been fixing. A blogger's work is never done!
But what's on your mind today, movie-wise? And yes, yes, I know you're waiting on some key interviews. Thursday through Sunday will be poppin' here at TFE so patience! Interviews are the single most time-consuming kind of article, I'm sorry to say.
If you're exhausted with nothing on your mind this humpday... here -- enjoy some music. Here are new videos from Paul Williams (this song is eligible for the Oscar and is sensitive and beautiful much like his earlier Oscar nominated work. I think it has a good shot at the shortlist), Aimee Mann (I always forget she has a sense of humor and this "Labrador" is kind of awesome) and Hunky Hunk McHunkerson (aka Cheyenne Jackson). Won't someone please put him in an action movie... or at least in a Magic Mike sequel?
What'cha think?
Reader Comments (22)
I've had screening of Django, This is 40, Les Miserables and Jack Reacher this week, which is very fun to have. Yet, despite wall-to-wall movie nights, I can't help but fret over what I've not seen for my top 10. Thus is my brain. "How can I make a 'real' top 10 without having seen The Turin Horse" is all that blinks.
Not thrilled with the concept for Cheyanne's video. Are we to identify with a breakup that sends the wronged party from his immaculate apartment to an interactive buffet of handsome, hunky guys for the taking—in like, popy technicolor and levity? And then at the end we see he still wants what he can't have—not much of a punch to the viewer after witnessing the day he had.
But maybe that's what breakups are like when you're Cheyanne Jackson.
I would've sent the handsome gay protagonist on a quirky but depressing and also validating series of bad first dates, a one night stand, another night alone with Chinese and Netflix, inappropriate drunk calls to the ex....
That's funny about "The Turin Horse," BrianZ. It's on my Netflix queue. I'd been watching too much Hollywood dreck, so I thought I'd catch up on my art flicks, but I found them just as irritating in their own way as Hollywood. I started "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" and went into a coma. Then I started "The Kid with the Bike." I love the Dardennes brothers, but I found the kid of the title so f-ing irritating that I turned it off as well. This is the problem with Netflix. If I had paid admission to see these movies, I would have watched them in their entirety and even liked them, but now the thought of endless shots of Turkish men looking for a dead body and endless shots of a nasty ginger boy on a bike is enough to turn me off these movies forever.
As for Aimee Mann, she was very funny on "Portlandia," where she played a has-been version of herself who has to clean Fred Armisen's house to make ends meet. She'll always be aces in my book for the beautiful tone her songs lent to "Magnolia."
Here are my thoughts on the Best Actor race:
Meryl had to wait 30 years to get her third Oscar. It's only been 5 years since Day-Lewis' last Oscar, and 11 years since Denzel's (and he's not really predicted to win by anyone this year). So maybe neither of them will win because of this.
Oscar doesn't hand Best Actor to younger pretty-boys that often. Sometimes if they're rugged and it's a genre that the old white male voters love (e.g. Russell Crowe). But I think this may count out both Jackman and Cooper for the win.
Which means that this may be another Adrien Brody Oscars night, and whoever gets that fifth spot may be in the box seat for the win. So I'm currently betting on John Hawkes. (I did have my money on Phoenix for a while, but I'm startign to reluctantly accept that one of the best male acting roles of 2012 is just too obscure/controversial for the Academy to recognise.)
I still need to see Lincoln. That's what's been on my mind for, what, almost a month now? I'm kind of dreading it. Everyone was raving about The King's Speech, too, and I hated most of it. I'm so picky about historical dramas. Aside from films that haven't officially opened yet--Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained, Les Mis, etc.--I'm almost caught up on narrative (non-animated, really dropped the ball there) features. Lincoln is the exception.
Ugh, Anatola, Queen of Versailles, Turin Horse. There's so much popping up on Netflix.
I propose a new holiday, squeezed somewhere in late December, where we all get a day off work to engage in a 24-hour marathon of catching up on all the movies of the year that we haven't gotten to yet. To be frank, 24 hours wouldn't be enough. But it's a start. I dub this holiday Cinemaween (gotta work on the name). If we all push for this it could happen, right?
Cinemaween is definitely a more useful holiday than Columbus Day or Labor Day. The awful thing about my response to "Anatolia" and "Kid with Bike," other than the fact that I'm being totally unfair and uncritical about them, is that Netflix tells me that I will certainly give them four stars! And even though I thought Tarr's "Werckmeister Harmonies" was a masterpiece, I know better than to turn on his "Turin Horse" without being certain that I'm in the right frame of mind for it. Sometimes one of his ten-minute-long shots is just the ticket and other times it's the nearest thing to hell on earth. I think I'm in a hell-on-earth mood. ;)
Any chance you might post your Nicole Kidman interview before we say bye-bye to 2012? :)
I love the way Cheyenne Jackson's video does a gay take on the classic movie musical production number. Oh and I agree with Nathaniel- how about a gay action hero- ( who strips and sings)
Wellington -- i thought this as well, the third Oscar thing, but then it occurred to me that that challenge for male stars is different. It's hard for women to women multiple Oscars partially because they're given such a short time frame in which to do so (since the mid 20s through the mid 30s are like the Oscar winning years). Male movie stars have longer careers and a different mood about why they should be honored so i'm not sure they'll be like "Daniel has to wait!" so much.
Robert A -- i absolutely love the idea of Cinemaween. Love love love it. Can I borrow it for The Film Experience? Maybe we could make it a group event. Pick a day and everyone watch 24 hours of movies. ask for the day off work and comment mania!
Who's the first photo on your banner? I know I know who it is, but I'm embarrassed to be drawing a blank. Is it Julie Delpy?
I just saw Killing Them Softly. Scoot McNairy has a very expressive face, doesn't he? He's like the male Claire Danes.
And I'm all for Cinemaween. There's so much I want to see at the moment!
Just watched Pitch Perfect. Good fun. I nominate Anna K. and Rebel to introduce the Original Song nominees. Or maybe they should perform them.
Finally got around to seeing The Kid With A Bike today and absolutely fell in love with it. I just finished it an hour ago and can't wait to watch it again.
@Owen I was feeling so good about having finished something off of my instant queue that I thought I'd try another, and I ran smack dab into what you were talking about. For you it was The Kid With A Bike, for me it was Summer Hours. Barely lasted fifteen minutes, and I probably would've loved it if I didn't have the power button in my control at all times. Sigh. So much for progress.
I see your point, Ntahaniel. Five years just feels too soon, though. LINCOLN has yet to open Down Under so when I get to see it, I may change my mind.
One question Nathaniel: What's the deal with the postponement of Django Unchained's release? What does it do to Oscar eligibility? Not to mention the awards and nominations it's already received. Technically speaking, it's no longer a 2012 film!
Marcos -- as far as I'm aware the only thing that was cancelled was the actual premiere in LA so it should still be opening on Christmas day.
TB, that is hilarious. I absolutely loved "Summer Hours" when I saw it in a theater. Who knows if I would've liked it if I had encountered it in my forced march through my Netflix queue? How about if I give "The Kid with a Bike" another shot if you do the same with "Summer Hours"? But only if we're in the right mood for whatever it is we disliked about each of them (in my case, pushy neurotic children; in yours, snooty rich art-loving families?).
CINEMAWEEN!
I am SO IN! There are far too many films I missed this year, whether because they didn't play near me or I was just too busy on the particular weekend when I would have seen them. A day of catching up is DEFINITELY in order.
One of my favorite Paul Williams' Oscar nominations came for his collaboration with John Williams for the Marsha Mason-James Caan starrer "Cinderella Liberty" in 1973. The song was "Nice to Be Around," and Helen Reddy recorded a very lovely rendition of it several years later. The song lost to the classic The Way We Were, which could have only been defeated by Jesus singing his own theme song.
@Owen I think it was seeing Juliette Binoche with blonde hair. I was just like...no no no, you're a fool Summer Hours and I will not associate with you! But you've got a deal: tired and grumpy was just not the way to start that film.