Beauty vs Beast: Guests Gotten, Hosts Humped
Monday, November 24, 2014 at 1:14PM 
Howdy folks, it's Jason from MNPP here with a brand new round of "Beauty Vs Beast" and a brand new chance to pit the sorta-good against the sorta-bad, or the sorta in-between, and for us to choose our side with due diligence (at least with enough enough energy to click one way or the opposite). It was a slow creep realization when Mike Nichols died last week, what we'd lost - I'm not a Broadway person and as of late that's what I'd associated him with, so it was only once I started skimming back through his filmography, and once I read wonderful tributes like Nat's here, that my brain clicked into place that "Why yes, Jason, you've loved and been affected by a ton of this man's work for your entire life, duh." And so I've found myself going back and re-watching things I hadn't seen in many years - Working Girl (Sigourney MVP!) and Silkwood (probably my favorite Nichols film) and then today's piping hot dish of husband-wife combat for the ages...
If you're here in the US you'll probably spend sometime this week giving thanks to the turkey and stuffing for all the good stuff in your life, and I wouldn't blame anybody who placed these two performances on their Good Stuff Lists. Personally I'm Team George because 1) I've never been much of a Burton fan but I think he's phenomonal in this movie, and 2) I see way too much of myself in Martha, and that's the sort of thing you reflexively snap your eyes away from. You have one week to vote!
PREVIOUSLY Checking back in on the gorgeous ladies of 1870s society, last week's Age-of-Innocence Off ultimately sided with the poor unfortunate soul Countess Olenska (Michelle Pfieffer) over wily Winona's little Miss May; we do love a wounded bird. Said Murtada:
"Countess Olenska was way ahead of her time, a pioneer against vicious social mores. And she endured a false life despite getting a glimpse of a real one. Hasn't she suffered enough? She gets my vote."
Reader Comments (13)
I'm with George. My ex mother-in-law was a Martha. In fact she made Martha look like Honey. George deserves all the support and bourbon he can get for putting up with her (although I bet she was a tiger in the sack).
Burton was robbed of his Oscar for this. One of the best male performances in film history.
^^This. (Well, the second paragraph.)
"I hope that was an empty bottle, George! You can't afford to waste good liquor, not on YOUR salary! Not on an ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR'S salary!"
Team Martha based on that scene alone. Push those buttons, Martha! Get him angry, baby.
I'm going to have to go with Martha on this one. None of her "cons" feel like cons to me.
If George even existed, i'd vote for him. Luckily for him, he does.
"Come here and give your mommy a big sloppy kiss."
Martha's line would turn anyone into a houseboy. So disturbing.
Gotta go with George!
Two phenomenal pieces of acting. But Burton truly was the secret weapon.
brookesboy, we are agreed. RB's performance of George was not his usual declaratory Toga, Shakespeare, Camelot role. Here Richard was.....warts and all. It is a nuanced splendid performance and there would be no Martha if George had not been such a flop.
I choose Honey. Sandy Dennis will have her revenge.
Team Martha bcoz she's the earth mother and we are all flops <3333333333
3rtful if Sandy Dennis were here she'd have my vote too. Sandy Dennis for ALL the votes, forever and ever, amen.
Oh, hell...Martha seems like she's having way more fun than anyone else!
Leslie, I read that Burton's alcoholism was largely attributed to his insecurity and depression regarding his acting ability. He never felt he was good enough; some of the choices in his filmography were clearly the sign of someone who felt he didn't measure up (echoes of Albee's George). But watching this performance and his work in The Night of the Iguana blindingly reveal the concealed depths of his shattering talent.
Usually with Woolf, I'm all about George... but despite how great Burton is here, for me the film version is ALL about Liz Taylor's Martha. What a towering performance of a towering character.
Plus, when you put her pros and cons like that, she seems a LOT more fun!