Friday
Feb172012
Open Thread
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 6:11PM I've been offline today. Apologies. What's on *your* cinematic mind. Help me jump back into movie madness with your comments.
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 6:11PM References (1)
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Response: Stretch mark product[...]Open Thread - Blog - The Film Experience[...]
Reader Comments (29)
I hate repeating comments but since I was a wee bit offtopic in that JGL thread, here it goes again...
Oscars 2012 in a nutshell (not as funny as last year's video but still): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oFswU8GiQpQ
I was just looking at your Supporting Actress ballot, and it's a great list, as always, but I just noticed that Angelica Huston in 50/50 didn't even make the sem-finalist list. I really, really hope she shows up in the limited/cameo category, because Huston just mops the floor with the rest of that movie. I've really no idea how neither Oscar nor any other significant precursor (except the Indie Spirit awards) took notice of her.
^ While I agree with you on her performance, supporting actress was way too crowded this year to fit in a really small not FLASHY role in a film that didn't get much attention.
On my mind...hm. I actually must admit, my mind hasn't been very cinematic lately.
I'm going back to the original spelling of my screen name. No idea why you're not posting anything but if you're in a funk I think I know how to cheer you up. Take off your clothes, jump in the shower and think God you're neither Karen Silkwood or the Jodie Foster character in The Accused.
*thank God
oh and I'm losing the ones for two l(s)
Well, I finally saw 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and I just don't understand the love for it from some quarters. It was horribly boring, Mara is doing a very flat and uninspired performance with no character arc, and the violence against women was sensationalistic.
On the other hand, I finally got to see 'A Separation' and it was fantastic.
Just sat through Albert Nobbs and, for want of a better word, I am absolutely bewildered.
I saw The Woman in Black last night and hated it for not even trying to have a plot or character development. It doesn't earn the really well done haunted house shenanigans that kick in about halfway through the film, but those scenes are the only reason anyone is giving the film a good review.
I'm still reeling over how awful The Iron Lady was. I don't even think Meryl Streep did particularly good work in the film. The only scenes I liked were the scenes with the young Margaret Roberts (didn't like her intro to parliament scene) and there are, unfortunately, only three of those.
Hopefully The Secret of Arrietty tomorrow is better than my other viewings this week.
I just remembered that list you did ages ago called actresses of the aughts of something like that...any plans to follow that up?
I've just read the article about The Ghost Writer on Wikipedia. Apparently, it was originally supposed to star Nicolas Cage and Tilda Swinton in the Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams roles.
Can you imagine!
I've got a lot on my cinematic mind lately:
1) Why not start a new theme here at The Film Experience? One centered on celebrating the careers of artists (be they actors, directors, cinematographers, composers...etc) on their birthdays. You've done something similar several times, celebrating the birthdays of Joseph Gordon Levitt, Julianne Moore...etc. The focus of the piece can be as simple as the one that you've done for JGL, or something more in depth, tracking the trajectory of an artist's career, and finishing with your own hopes to what the future would bring for said artist. Of course, readers would then be encouraged to post their own thoughts and comments for the birthday artist, too.
2) Your recent piece on the junior oscars got me to thinking that there are actually a lot more adult actors (that were once child actors) working in the industry. The common (mis)conception is that a lot of young child actors can't make the transition from child actor to adult actor. Certainly, that's what happens for some, but there's an equally strong case that many actually do make the transition, and go on to even greater career highs. Of, if not super successes, can still work in the industry and support themselves (an amazing feat in of itself given the super competitiveness in acting).
I think this bears further exploration, and I'm hoping you'll write something up on this.
3) I saw Hugo last night and really enjoyed it. I knew I would given the high accolades I've been hearing about it. And to my surprise, Chloe Morentz didn't annoy me. Truth be told, she's turned in decent and solid performances in Hugo and in Let Me In. I still don't believe she's as good as she's hyped out to be, but by the same token I don't believe she's as bad as some say either.
Baz Luhrmann's Alexander the Great.
I want it. NOW!
A week or two ago I happened to see a couple of minutes (it wasn't more, I swear) of Miss Congeniality 2 on TV. It was a scene of Bullock's character at a bookstore signing, and one woman wanting her autograph was called Octavia - Bullock even said "what a pretty name" or something like that. I didn't notice the woman's face (I think she was only shown in long shot), but I remembered having read somewhere that Sandy and Octavia Spencer are old friends, so I looked it up at IMDb and, whaddayaknow, she's indeed in the cast list as "Octavia - Bookstore". Who in the world watching that movie in 2005 could have guessed that in a few years, not only Sandra Bullock, but both Sandra Bullock and "Octavia - Bookstore" would become Oscar winners?
SVG, Nicolas Cage as The Ghost? There goes the film. Now Tilda Swinton as The Ghost, that's another story. I don't buy her as the wife of the Prime Minister, but I buy her as the secret force behind the PM's public image.
There's nothing in theaters I want to see this weekend. How is that possible?
When did comedies get to be so long? I mean, look at some of these run times from the past
Trouble in Paradise: 82 minutes
His Girl Friday: 92 minutes
Dr. Strangelove: 95 minutes
Some Like it Hot: 122 minutes
Midnight: 95 minutes
The Philadelphia Story: 112 minutes
Meanwhile, Bridesmaids is 130 minutes long. I rather want to see it (if only to see why AMPAS went for it), but can't imagine it being worth 2h10m of my life.
Here's what's on my mind: if any Film Experience fans are in Chicago, "Margaret" opens today at the Gene Siskel Film Center for one week only! I'm definitely going to try to catch it when it's hear. Who knows when they'll get it out on DVD?
Just saw melancholia. The opening scenes are brilliant. Kirstin Dunst has great breasts. I want that house. that's as far as it goes.
just saw Nick Nolte "Warrior"...WOW!
I've been thinking about movies and memory. After seeing The Vow, I couldn't stop thinking about Jill Schary Robinson's memoir, "Past Forgetting". She is the daughter of writer/MGM studio head Dore Schary, and while swimming laps, she hit her head on the end of the pool and lost her most recent years of memories.
She didn't remember her husband either but every time she saw him, she thought, oh wow, who is that guy and started flirting with him. To my mind, that's a better story and more believable than The Vow ( not a stretch, I admit).
Robinson found that her memories were stored in movies, which had always been a major part of her life. When friends would watch a movie with her and tell when they saw it together, what she wore, what they talked about, then she could remember because she had a hook to hang the memory on.
Please, please, talk about Demián Bichir in "A better life" (yes, this is a little pathetic beggin... hahaha).
I wanna add some opinion about leading actor performances (nominated or not nominated for some award/s, or mentioned/not mentioned in personal lists), I might be the only one (correction, I AM the only one) who thinks Michael Fassbender wasn't that good in "Shame"... I was actually impressed by Carey Mulligan (and I'm not really a fan of her performances, and I have no problem admitting he's a much superior actor than she is).
Anyway, Bichir's character felt like Melissa Leo's in "Frozen river" (my personal female favorite performance of 2008).
And now, something that bugs me: am I the only one who dies to see movies screened on international festivals like Cannes'/Berlin's? Have you gone to one of them? Are really the performances that circulate the awards season (wether it's in the Oscars; in the early ones to award/nominate like the NY critics; in those that go against every other award when it comes to nominations like this year Independent Spirits or rewarding like the Satellite awards; or in those really small ones that no one pays attention like the Dallas-Fort Worth awards) really better than the ones that never "come to light" outside those festivals? Are we really (really really really really) missing a whole fantastic world out there?
Sadly, I mostly go to the theater to see performances, occasionally for a movie itself (and I hardly found both in the same lately, don't know why... for example, the previous mentioned: didn't like "Frozen river"/"A better life").
Another thing is, why a lot critics/bloggers/people really interested in movies agreed on their personal choices mostly with for examples, the big awards when it comes to the male acting performances, but they often with completely different choices for the women? What do you think: the awards hit right on the spot for men, but they don't for women? People actually do care more for female performances and they just see a list of guys' names recognized here and there and they just copy and paste the mentioning? The young/beautiful women (regardless race, nacionality or experience) do really give the best performances over the old/unappealing ones (ditto here), wether they're rewarded for it or not? And older/unatractive men are usually better than good looking/young males (regardless what I mentioned before)?
So sorry, but I need someone so passionate about acting to answer me these questions, and sorry if I look very stupid asking (I can't do it in real world because outdoors are scary... hahaha... just joking, but it's still creepy and no one would answer me this) but I've kept this to myself all of these for so long because no one would answer (and there's not too much confidence in my being, not even to post on the Internet... hahaha... sad, but truth), but you typed OPEN THREAD (thank you... :P).
And now, I've got to see some more performances (I don't even lie anymore to myself anymore calling them movies... but that doesn't mean they're bad... go to watch movies/rent DVDs)... "We need to talk about Kevin", "Get low", "Ballast", "Lust caution" and "Take Shelter"... wish me luck! :)
One more question: where I can find the previous Film Bitch Awards lists, besides the ones from 2009 and 2010?
Me34 -- the film bitch awards from earlier years are not online at the moment. As for Demian Bichir i did interview him super briefly if you'd like to read that. I liked his performance a lot.
Arkaan -- that's something i've been bitching about forever. Generally speaking comedies work best if they're fleet footed. But today's almost never are. I can't think of many recent comedies that couldn't prune 15 minutes and be a better film for it (and even films i love like Bridesmaids and The Artist are included in this) .I don't know when it started but it even happened to Woody Allen a little bit and he used to be the King of brief and impactful laughs. He still keeps his comedies shorter than most directors but they've crept up in length, too.
Sean D -- I always meant to follow that up yes (if you'll recall it was made only halfway through the decade! so... like everything else it's juust a matter of how the hell will i find the time? (If only i could write here 8 hours a day instead of seeking out other jobs, freelance and otherwise)
Rebecca -- yay! i love that more and more people are seeing that one. And they usually love it. One of my friends offline (who i unfortunately don't see much) recently emailed me to say he saw it just because i kept mentioning it in awed ways and he was like OMG. SENSATIONAL. THANK YOU. which was really nice to hear.
Me34 -- the gender/age discrepancies in awardage and general opinions are, to me, entirely reflective of the way both Hollywood and its audiences reflect gender/age discrepancies in real life. It's changed a lot for the better but it's still basically a partriarchly society which means: women are expected to stay young and beautiful and are valued for doing so (which is why "deglamming" is "BRAVE") and men are considered handsome well into their older age and are valued for experience and power (which is why mental and physical impairments are awards bait for men because it makes them vulnerable and thus Brave) and so the roles and the reaction to stars follow this. The bulk of critics are male too which adds to the problem.
But really it's all bullshit. Actors are individual people regardless of their genitals and some actors are at the peak of their gifts in the 20s, some in their 30s, some in thier 40s. some in their 50s and so on some have different peak years like all people (you might be incredibly inpsired in your 20s and then find new creative charge in your 60s. It just depends on the person and their life and their talents ... though we will never really know in many cases since actors are so dependant on people giving them roles in order to show us this. The only reason we know, for instance, that Meryl still has extraordinary gifts and we can only guess as to how well her contemporaries might handle a string of exciting challenging lead roles is because she's the one that gets the roles and we can see it. For all we know, we might be missing the best years of Sigourney Weaver or Barbara Hershey or [insert any name here] because they don't get handed lead roles.
I saw Bullhead last night- it had a few more issues than I was expecting (I kinda figured it'd be flawless but just too gory for the Academy, but instead I could see why some didn't go for it).
I also saw the trailer for Friends with Kids beforehand and was very excited. I hope it lives up to its excellent cast, 2/3 of which was in Bridesmaids. And yay for Jon Hamm sticking with comedy.
On my cinematic mind? I watched Without You I'm Nothing for the first time a few days ago, and it's better than I would have imagined in my wildest dreams. Sandra is amazing. "My father's a proctologist. My mother's an abstract artist. That's how I view the world."
Has anyone heard that apparently Judi Dench is going blind? She allegedly can't even read scripts anymore. :(
Still waiting on that Yes, No, Maybe So for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World...