What Link Gets Wrong About Blog
Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 1:00PM AV Club deep screen capture to reveal how well constructed shots in Divergent dont make for a good film
BuzzFeed great essay on the current relevancy of Before Sunrise (1995) and instant nostalgia
Heat Vision Tyrese Gibson obsessed with playing Green Lantern in a film that's at least 5 years away based on a character already ruined by the movies
Decider 10 essential movies about nuns from our beloved Black Narcissus to less impressive but famous offerings like Doubt
HuffPo Adam Scott and Jason Schwarzmann discuss their prosthetic penises in The Overnight. (Takeaway: no actor will ever truly be naked again onscreen. That's only for actresses)
THR talks to the director of Book of Life - though disappointed by the lack of an Oscar nomination, he cherishes stories from fans about how it effected their families
Towleroad arts teacher in Texas does "Uptown Funk" with students. Cute. But I only share it because I love Uptown Funk because you know why (first verse)
Playlist Paul Thomas Anderson loves Edge of Tomorrow and The Grand Budapest Hotel
THR Why Me and Earl and the Dying Girl did not choose the highest bidder at Sundance
This Week's Must Read
You undoubtedly know already that Mark Harris is one of the best writers on movie culture and the awards beat in general (if for some insane reason you haven't read his first book Pictures at a Revolution, it's the most invaluable Oscar book since "Inside Oscar") but I think his latest column for Grantland is one of his all time finest. He goes deep on "How Selma Got Smeared: Historical Fiction And Its Malcontents" I only wish this essay had broken sooner before Oscar nomination voting. Now you may be thinking 'please, Nathaniel, I have read enoug about Selma's LBJ problem' and you may even be thinking (as I have been) that complaints about Selma's "Oscar snub" are starting to feel weirder and weirder as the season progresses. Fact: Selma will now go down in movie history as a Best Picture nominee, something only 8 movies from hundreds and hundreds released in 2014 can claim. But trust me you need to read this anyway.
Here's a part I particularly love (bold is mine) that is really illuminating about historical fiction:
About a third of the way into Selma, Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) has a private meeting with Malcolm X (Nigel Thatch) in an Alabama church (this is not an invention of the movie; the two met in Selma on February 5, 1965, two weeks before Malcolm X was assassinated). The scene is introduced with a shrewd recurring device — an onscreen teletype legend that tells moviegoers what’s happening, but only through the warping prism of FBI surveillance. “C. King in Selma to meet with Negro militant Malcolm X. 03:46 p.m. LOGGED.” The description denotes the assumption of white law enforcement that a conspiracy of one kind is taking place — a clandestine meeting in which King may be moving closer to throwing in with a more militant, potentially violent faction of the movement. In reality, the “conspiracy” that’s unfolding is exactly the opposite; Malcolm tells the wary Coretta that he is not in Selma to impede her husband’s work, but to allow himself to be used, even to be misrepresented, to further King’s goals.
...
DuVernay’s view of the uses of history and of (mis)representation is not careless in this scene or in the movie; it’s clearly thought through. The onscreen typed summary is a perfectly deployed example of how something can be factually correct (meeting with a “Negro militant” is, literally, what Coretta King is doing) without being true; the movie, by contrast, finds many ways of being true without being strictly factual. That is exactly what good historical drama must sometimes do, and must be given permission to do, including in this scene itself, in which DuVernay has a character express an understanding that his presence and his motives may have to be slightly distorted in order to achieve a greater truth and justice.
And Harris illuminates it, strategically, in a scene not even involving LBJ.
Reader Comments (17)
I've been convinced for years that Anne Hathaway needs to play a nun. She needs to do something with all that chaste feeling and moral depth.
That Harris piece is one of the best things I've ever read online, movie-related or not. I'm only just now realizing how sorely he was missed during the season he sat out due to Lincoln.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscar-winner-dianne-wiest-im-766812?source=gravity
Can we talk about Dianne Wiest?
Wait...are actresses really naked onscreen when doing full frontal nudity? They generally wear a merkin that covers their INTERNAL genitals (unless your Rosario Dawson in Trance or Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct). If a man is truly naked onscreen, that is all of them, no hiding behind a merkin.
I noticed your snide 'less impressive' dig at Doubt. I know you're not a fan of the film but the entire cast was Oscar nominated. That doesn't happen very often. I thought it was a wonderful film and all performance were excellent.
brandz -- you're so touchy about all things Streep. FACT: Most movies are "less impressive" than Black Narcissus. I mean, come on. It's a visionary classic.
"no actor will ever truly be naked again onscreen."
Unless you're Ewan McGregor. Hehe :)
Memo to the writer of That Nun's Story: Get thee to a nunnery. You left off two must-see classics. Ingrid Bergman is glowing in Leo McCarey's The Belles of St. Mary's, in which she brings altruism and vocation into a believable context, all the while giving a freer, looser performance than I've ever seen from her. And even more deserving of a place on this list is Henry King's The Song of Bernadette, another Oscar nominee for Best Actress. And Jennifer Jones deservedly won for her gentle, human performance as the young saint. Certainly one of the most insightful, objective and well-executed films on the topic of religion ever made. And Jennifer's radiant, compassionate performance belongs in the Best Actress Top Ten.
"No actor will ever truly be naked again onscreen."
Europeans will. I'll be the first if it's necessary.
That Mark Harris article is superb. Wow.
Tyrese Gibson as John Stewart: Okay, I know voice acting and normal acting are different fields, but I'm pretty sure Phil LaMarr (Hermes, animated John Stewart, Vamp from Metal Gear Solid 2, SAMURAI JACK) voice to Tyrese Gibson (Fast and the Furious franchise, Annapolis, Transformers franchise, Legion, Black Nativity) live-action is a huge step down. There's a reason fans want Idris for THAT Green Lantern in live-action. That having been said, though: I'd honestly want WB to think of coming at GL from a way different angle next time. Why? The GL mythology of the comics has too many characters for any kind of film and too large of a required budget for a live-action show. So, yeah, I'm basically saying that, if the demand is for a GL Corps, I have to break it to you that, as far as adaptation goes, they're an "animated show or video game or you're going to bust" kind of deal. So what CAN they do on a cinema budget and time frame? Well...: They either A) Look at the core ideas of the classic Alan Scott era (building to a JSA WWII team film movie where Wonder Woman is the unquestioned leader?) or B) Look at the Just Imagine... adjustments of THOSE core ideas.
I'm a Streep nut, but she was not vey good in Doubt!!!!!
Rick, I disagree. Streep totally captured what it was like to be a nun in the early 1960s. I know the performance was controversial but her conflict and inner turmoil were spot on. I love her performance in Doubt, along with the entire cast.
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/3rtful -- this is absolutely not acceptable on this blog, the name-calling. Nobody even provoked you or said anything controversial.
Yeah, that Selma article. Wow. So glad you encouraged us to read it. I probably would've skipped it due to its length. I love his defense of historical drama and artistic license.
brandz ... you and Jamie are total Streep "nuts" and I applaud you for it.... at one time in the past, it seemed that you , Jamie, and I were always battling for Streep against the other bloggers.
but there does come a point where you need to be objective about a performance not particurarly "Doubt" ... just a Streep movie, in general.
I really love the majority of her movies, but some are well /// not too well done.
For instance, I did not care for Into the Woods at all ... also I wasn't wild about Streep's performance.
Just to let you know ... I will back you on a Streep blog any day!!!!